Description:
Silver tankard with a raised stepped and domed cover with a cast urn finial secured by a silver rivet through the top, and a single scored line around the folded-edge rim; a straight-sided body with an applied flared rim over double and single scored lines and applied midband; a cast thumbpiece with a scrolled top edge, and attached to a cast five-segment hinge with pendant drop; a raised and soldered hollow S-curved handle with an oval drop below the upper handle attachment; a circular plate on the body at the lower handle attachment; a cast tail-piece with the mask of a fierce male face; and an applied base molding consisting of a flat vertical section, cyma-recta curve with a scored line in the middle and two beads. The tankard is marked "HURD" in a rectangle stamped to the left of the handle for Jacob Hurd (1702/3-1758), and engraved with a cartouche topped with a basket of fruit over ruffled shells, palm branches, and swagged drapery, and engraved, "The Gift /- of - / THOs. WELLS Esq./ Decd to the Church of / Christ in / Deer-field / 1750." Thomas Wells (c.1678-1750) of Deerfield married Sarah Barnard (1677-1754), the daughter of Joseph Barnard, in 1700, and was active in civic affairs as selectman for many terms and land surveyor. Since the couple were childless, his will left "a good Silver Tankard" to the church, and his real estate to Capt, Thomas Dickinson and to his niece, whom he had raised, Mrs. Susanna White of Hardwick, Mass. The father of silversmiths Benjamin (1739-1781) and Nathaniel Hurd (1729/30-1777), Hurd worked in Boston from 1723-1755, and has long been recognized as one of the leading New England silversmiths of the mid-18th century, producing a wide range of tablewares in the Queen Anne style.. Formerly L85.02
Tags:
ceremonies Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+97.60.2 |
