Tankard
William Cowell Sr. may have apprenticed with John Allen (1671/72 – 1760), whose father held the mortgage to Cowell’s family home, or with John Edwards (about 1671 – 1746), Allen’s partner and brother-in-law. His apprenticeship complete by 1704, Cowell fashioned this tankard soon after for the Brattle Street Church, to which he and Allen belonged.
Along with this tankard, Cowell produced, in the years following his apprenticeship, a nutmeg grater engraved with a carnation (MMA), a gadrooned cup with one handle (MFA), a plain dram cup (Historic Deerfield), and one beaker engraved with text for the Congregational Church of Windham, Connecticut. Excepting the nutmeg grater, none demonstrates his ability to engrave the sophisticated design on this tankard.
The stylized mantling of angels and floral elements is similar to that found on seven pieces of communion plate made by four Boston silversmiths and members of the congregation. Although separated by as many as twenty-eight years, the engravings follow the one first used by John Noyes in 1704. In addition to the Cowell tankard made in 1705, two tankards by John Edwards dated 1728, a tankard by Andrew Tyler from 1732, and one communion cup by Edwards dated 1732 all bear similar designs.
Close examination of the Noyes and Cowell tankards reveals a nearly identical engraving style that extends beyond lettering to the treatment of the curly-haired angel, its slender outstretched wings extending behind the mantling, and its pointed body. Later tankards and cups depict an angel having smooth hair parted in the center and combed into a “flip” (upturned ends), shorter articulated wings, and a rounded body. The Noyes and Cowell tankards also share similarities in the mantling, particularly in the engraving of berries and scrolls flanking the inscription. Fine cross-hatching at the base of the berries’ spherical forms lends volume, and the closely spaced, vertical lines under the large scrolls give the illusion of depth. Later engravings treat these two features more broadly, with a resulting loss of subtlety.
The Noyes and Cowell tankards are of similar height and share physical characteristics that include a crenate lid, long rattail joining at the upper handle, mask and dolphin thumbpiece, and shield-shaped terminus, suggesting that they were intended to be a pair. Perhaps young Cowell was chosen to make the tankard at the urging of his former masters, Edwards and Allen, with the engraving completed by Noyes.This text has been adapted from "Silver of the Americas, 1600-2000," edited by Jeannine Falino and Gerald W.R. Ward, published in 2008 by the MFA. Complete references can be found in that publication.Sources:
OSAC, p. 70-1; Avery, Clearwater, p. 42, cat. 25. See catalogue no. ___ for further information on silver owned by the Church at Brattle Street.
