Description:
Silver tablespoon with an elliptical bowl (tip worn) and molded drop; straight thick rectangular shaft tapered to downturned rounded-end handle; and short midrib on the back of the handle. The spoon is marked "OP" in a rounded rectangle twice for Otto Paul de Parisien (w. 1763-1789), and engraved with the initials "F / M * F" on the front of the handle. Born in Berlin, Otto de Parisien settled in New York by 1758 and was naturalized on January 18, 1763. His first advertisement, announcing him as "Gold-smith, from Berlin," appeared in the New-York Gazette two months later, and he continued to advertise "large Plate" and jewelry until 1792. Despite Parisien's European training, most likely in Berlin, his silver gives no hint of his Continental origins. Like much of his surviving work, this waiter, with its scalloped border and cast molding of shells and scrolls, is purely English in style and draws heavily on London prototypes.. David Barquist, in his book, "Myer Myers: Jewish Silversmith in Colonial New York," has established that silversmith Parisien was closely associated with Myer Myers from the mid-1750s to the mid-1760s, and that silver objects bearing his mark were actually likely made by Myers. Dr. Barquist believes that Parisien worked primarily as a "specialty outworker" (i.e. chaser) or jeweler, and that the large objects in silver marked and sold by Parisien were in fact made and supplied by Myers.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+1998.7.11 |
