Chalice

18th century

Object PlaceProbably Mexico

Medium/TechniqueGilt silver with bronze or copper stem and foot

DimensionsHeight: 22.8 cm (9 in.), diameter of rim: 3 1/16 in. (7.7 cm), diameter of base: 5 5/8 (13.5 cm), weight: 13 oz, 10 dwt 7 gr (420.4 gm)

Credit LineGift in memory of Mr. and Mrs. William H. Keith

Accession number28.465

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsSilver hollowware

Collections

ProvenanceBy 1878, unearthed from property on Oneida Street, St. Augustine, Florida, by property owners William H. Keith (b. 1803 - d. 1885) and Harriet Lovett Keith (b. 1837 - d. 1917), St. Augustine and exhibited at Bigelow, Kennard and Co., Boston; 1880, placed on loan to the MFA; passed by descent and in 1928, given to the MFA. (Accession Date: August 21, 1928)

NOTE: It is not known when this object, along with six other pieces of ecclesiastical silver (MFA accession nos. 28.464 – 28.470) was buried. The cross (28.468) is inscribed with the date 1721 and the name of the Spanish governor and captain general of Florida, Antonio de Benavides (1718 – 1734). It has been suggested that the silver was buried after Spain ceded Florida to the United States in 1821, in response to fears that the U.S. government might seize church property. See Jeannine Falino, Silver in the Americas, 1600-2000. American Silver in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA, Boston, 2008), pp. 465-466, cat. no. 370, and pp. 524-525, Appendix I.