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A round silver vessel with two delicate handles and a ridged lid.

The base of the vessel has concentric rims, the largest of which is ridged. The bottom portion of the body of the vessel is covered in repeating petal shapes. Above this, there is a script etching which reads a dedication to “HON. WILLIAM STOUGHTON” in honor of his death on July 7th, 1701. There are two handles which are made from thin curling pieces of silver with repeating bump details. The lid is similar to the base, with concentric rims alternately decorated with ridging. At the top of the lid there is a faceted round shape, which resembles a carved gem.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
877.1927.A-B
People
John Coney, American (Boston, MA 1655/56 - 1722 Boston, MA)
Title
"The Stoughton Cup"
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
1701
Places
Creation Place: North America, United States, Massachusetts, Boston
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/232465

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2340, European and American Art, 17th–19th century, The Silver Cabinet: Art and Ritual, 1600–1850
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Silver
Dimensions
25.4 x 17.8 cm (10 x 7 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: Engraved, on body: I.C. above a fleur-de-lys in a heart shaped punch. Engraved, with arms of Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton. on opposite side: The Gift/ of the/ Hon. William Stoughton,/who died at/Dorchester,/July 7th/1701.
  • (not assigned): Mark, on cover near knop and on cup between "of" and "the."

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Gift of the Honorable William Stoughton, 1701, on behalf of Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton (1631-1701) of Massachusetts, who died a week after the ceremony.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Loan from Harvard University; Gift to Harvard College from the Honorable William Stoughton, 1701
Object Number
877.1927.A-B
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Straight sides with moulded rim and vertical gadrooning on surbase; moulded splayed foot with band of reeding. Two cast scroll handles with graduated beading, caryatid grips, and snakes' heads at tips. Domed cover with two bands of reeding and melon-shaped finial with gadrooning at joining.
Commentary
The following eight vessels constitute Harvard's ceremonial silver. They are taken out of Harvard Art Museum storage and displayed only for the most important occasions, most notably for presidential inaugurations. Information about their history and display are in the files of the University Portrait Collection:

"The John Vassal Tankard", by Joseph Kneeland, American, 873.1927
"The William Vassal Tankard" by Joseph Kneeland, 874.1927
"The Dunster Tankard" by Ephraim Cobb, American, 876.1927
"The Stoughton Cup" by John Coney, American, 877.1927.A-B
"The Holyoke Caudle Cup" by John Coney, 878.1927
"The Hedge Tankard" by Edward Winslow, American, 879.1927
"The Great Salt", unidentified British maker, 881.1927
"The Browne Cup," by John Burt, American, 882.1927.A-B

Publication History

  • Louis B. Wright, The Arts in America: The Colonial Period, Charles Scribner & Sons (New York, NY, 1966), p. 328, pl. 245
  • Martha Gandy Fales, Early American Silver for the Cautious Collector, Funk and Wagnalls (New York, NY, 1970), p. 43, fig. 39
  • Kenyon Castle Bolton, III, Peter G. Huenink, Earl A. Powell III, Harry Z. Rand, and Nanette C. Sexton, American Art at Harvard, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1972), cat. 173, ill.
  • Wendy Ann Cooper, In Praise of America: American Decorative Arts, 1650-1830/ Fifty Years of Discovery Since the 1929 Girl Scouts Loan Exhibition, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. (New York, NY, 1980), pp. 88-90, fig. 111
  • Kristin A. Mortimer and William G. Klingelhofer, Harvard University Art Museums: A Guide to the Collections, Harvard University Art Museums and Abbeville Press (Cambridge and New York, 1986), p. 210, cat. 242, ill.
  • David B. Warren and Katherine S. Howe, Marks of Achievement: Four Centuries of American Presentation Silver, exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston/Harry N. Abrams Inc. (Houston TX/New York NY, 1987), p. 48, 49. fig. 39
  • Graham Hood, American Silver: A History of Style, 1650-1900, E. P. Dutton & Co. (New York, NY, 1989), pp. 57, 59
  • Sandra Grindlay, "Harvard's Portraits: An American Treasure", Harvard University Art Museums Review (Fall 1992), vol. II, no. 1, pp. 6-7, p. 6
  • Timothy Anglin Burgard, American Art at Harvard: Cultures and Contexts, brochure, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1994), p. 10, cat. 11
  • James Stoughton, My Savage Ancestor, EPS Printing (South Windsor, CT, 2000?), repr. on p. 41
  • Jane Turner, The Encyclopedia of American Art before 1914, Macmillan Publishers Limited (London, England, 2000), p. 111
  • Jeannine Skerry, "'Ancient and Valuable Gifts': Silver at Colonial Harvard", New England Silver and Silversmithing, 1620-1815, The Colonial Society of Massachusetts (Boston, MA, 2001), pp. 183-209, pp. 185-186, fig. 2a and b
  • Mark A. Peterson, "Puritanism and Refinement in Early New England: Reflections on Communion Silver", The William and Mary Quarterly, Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture (Williamsburg, VA, April 2001), vol 58, no. 2, pp 307-346, repr. as fig. xi on p. 340
  • "The Table is Set: Out Comes the Ceremonial Silver to Celebrate a President", Harvard Magazine (November 2001), p. 112, repr.
  • Jeannine Falino, ed., New England Silver & Silversmithing 1620-1815, The Colonial Society of Massachusetts (Boston, MA, 2001), P. 186, Fig. 2 a,b; Pp. 183-209
  • Stephan Wolohojian and Alvin L. Clark, Jr., Harvard Art Museum/ Handbook, ed. Stephan Wolohojian, Harvard Art Museum (Cambridge, 2008), ill. p. 128
  • Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr. and Melissa Renn, American Paintings at Harvard, Volume One: Paintings, Watercolors, and Pastels by Artists Born before 1826, Yale University Press (U.S.) and Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge and New Haven, 2014), p. 498, fig. 69
  • Edward S. Cooke, Jr., Inventing Boston: Design, Production, and Consumption, 1680-1720, Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art and Yale University Press (New Haven and London, 2019), pp. 14-15, repr. p. 15 as fig. 11
  • Mark A. Peterson, "Puritanism and Refinement in Early New England: Reflections on Communion Silver", ed. Christopher Ocker and Susanna Elm, Springer International Publishing (Cham, Switzerland, 2020), repr. as fig. 5.11 on p.168
  • Ken Bresler, The Witch Trial Trail of Boston and the Harvard Witch Walk: The People and Places of Boston and Harvard Connected with the Salem Witch Trials (2023), p. 83-84, repr. p. 83

Exhibition History

  • American Art at Harvard, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/19/1972 - 06/18/1972
  • American Art at Harvard: Cultures and Contexts, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/01/1994 - 12/30/1994
  • The Persistence of Memory: Continuity and Change in American Cultures, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 07/29/1995 - 05/13/2001
  • Re-View: S424-426 Western Art from 1560 to 1900, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 08/16/2008 - 06/18/2011
  • 32Q: 2340 Cabinet Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 09/24/2019; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/25/2019 - 03/01/2025

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu