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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2016.207
People
Daniel Parker, American (Charlestown, Massachusetts 1726 - 1785 Boston, Massachusetts)
Title
The Benjamin Pickman Tankard
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
c. 1759
Places
Creation Place: North America, United States, Massachusetts, Boston
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/349334

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
21.6 × 12.8 cm, 1.8 lb. (8 1/2 × 5 1/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: engraved: The Gift / of Bej.n Pickman Esq.r to the / First Church in Salem 1759. / Transferred to the / North Church / SALEM / 1772.
  • maker's mark: on cover, punched: D [pellet] Parker [mark of Daniel Parker]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Benjamin Pickman, gift; to First Church, Salem, 1759, transferred; to North Church, Salem, 1772, transferred; to First Church, Salem, 1927, sold; [through Christie's, New York, January 18, 2007, lot 58]; to Daniel Pollack, gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2016.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Daniel A. Pollack and Susan F. Pollack, Harvard Classes of 1960 and 1964
Accession Year
2016
Object Number
2016.207
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Description
Tapering cylindrical form tankard. Applied middle band and molded foot. Domed cover with finial. Made in 1759 by Daniel Parker, this tankard is distinguished by its Rococo cartouche featuring the arms of the Pickman family.

Publication History

  • E. Alfred Jones, The Old Silver of American Churches, National Society of Colonial Dames of America (Letchworth, England, 1913), pp. 433-434
  • Charles Knowles Bolton, Bolton's American Armory, The F. W. Faxon Company (Boston, 1927), p. 131
  • Patricia E. Kane, Colonial Massachusetts Silversmiths and Jewelers: A Biographical Dictionary based on the Notes of Francis Hill Bigelow & John Marshall Phillips, Yale University Press (U.S.) (New Haven, CT, 1998), p. 757
  • Early American Silver 1670-1820, Including the Darling Foundation Collection and Silver from the First Church in Salem, auct. cat., Christie's, New York (New York, January 18, 2007), pp. 60-70, lot 58, repr. pp. 60-61
  • Laura Turner Igoe, "A Prize of Silver", Index Magazine, Harvard Art Museums ([e-journal], June 22, 2017), http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/article/a-prize-of-silver, repr.
  • "Harvard Art Museums Receive Important Gift of American Silver", Artfixdaily Artwire ([e-journal], March 22, 2022), https://www.artfixdaily.com/artwire/release/6573-harvard-art-museums-receive-important-gift-of-american-silver, accessed March 24, 2022

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 2340 Cabinet Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 09/24/2019; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/25/2019 - 03/01/2025

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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