19th Anniversary

19th Anniversary 136 www.afamag.com |  www.incollect.com Covered ewer, Simon Chaudron (1758–1846), Philadelphia, about 1807–1809. Silver. H. 16½ in. Weight: 60.3 troy oz. Signed and inscribed (with touch, in ribbon, under base): CHAUDRON; (with engraving, within wreath, under spout): AMC; (below wreath): A GIFT OF GRATITUDE. Weight: 60.3 oz. Troy. Jean Simon Chaudron, born in France and trained in watchmaking and silversmithing in Switzerland, arrived in Philadelphia in 1793 after nearly ten years in the French colony of Saint Domingue (now Haiti). While he initially opened a shop that dealt in jewelry, watches, and imported silver, he gradually added silver of his own manufacture to his inventory. With a clear understanding of French neoclassical design, and access to contemporary design books from Europe and England, his work reflected the style and motifs of the early Napoleonic period. For example, the design for this very sophisticated and complex covered ewer pays homage to Thomas Hope, whose publication Household Furniture and Interior Decoration (1807) included images of ewers with related handles, masks, serpents, and other details. The Andrew Craig Walker handled urn, Tucker Factories, (active 1826–1838), Philadelphia, 1828. Porcelain, partially painted in polychrome and gilded, with an iron tie-rod for assembly. H. 1011⁄16 in. Inscribed and dated (on the back): ACW. /1828. In an attempt to bring the manufacture of hard- paste porcelain to the United States, in 1826, William Ellis Tucker organized a business to make porcelain in Philadelphia to emulate the production of the French porcelain manufactories. Many of the wares produced by the Tucker Factories were utilitarian, but they also made a number of pieces that were purely decorative. Among these is a vase with caryatid handles, decorated on one side with a floral bouquet, and, on the back, the initials “ACW” for Andrew Craig Walker, who was an important modeler at Tucker. The vase is also dated 1828, just two years into the Tucker enterprise, suggesting that even their early work was quite sophisticated. And, while it is rarely difficult to distinguish a piece of Tucker porcelain from its French prototypes, the goal was, nevertheless, to be as close as possible to what we today call “Old Paris” porcelain, which was being regularly — and bountifully — imported for wealthy Americans at the time.