Philadelphia Antiques Show 2019

118 Curator’s Essay Unquestionably the most spectacular recent purchase was the Maxwell Vase of 1829 (Fig. n), ordered from jeweler Baldwin Gardiner of New York, but made in Philadelphia by silversmith Thomas Fletcher, who had established himself as the foremost American purveyor of monumental presentation silver in the Classical Revival style. Successive generations of curators and collectors have created impressive holdings of American silver at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The medium’s continuing significance to the institution is underscored by the publication in 2018 of the first volume of a comprehensive collection catalogue, American Silver in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Volume 1: Makers A–F , supported by a bequest from Robert McNeil. Silver will feature prominently in the future Robert L. McNeil Jr. Galleries of American Art, now being planned as part of the Core Project currently underway. As the museum approaches the 150th anniversary of its founding, it is hoped that this remarkable collection of artistic expression in precious metals over five centuries will continue to grow and inspire interest among current and future generations. NOTES 1 Kathryn Bloom Hiesinger, Collecting Modern: Design at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Since 1876 (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2011), pp. 13–55. 2 Catalogue: Gold, Silver and Brass Work, Electrotype Reproductions (Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, 1877). 3 PMA 1897-924–27,a; deaccessioned in 1949. 4 PMA 1898-72; deaccessioned in 1941. 5 “A Relic of Whig Days,” Philadelphia Inquirer , February 9, 1902. 6 Sarah Yorke Stevenson, Exhibition of Old American and English Silver (Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, 1917). 7 Stevenson, Exhibition of Old American and English Silver , cats. 91, 94, 197. The unmarked “Washington” teapot is now PMA 1922-2-2, and the Humphreys sauceboats are now PMA 1994-98-1–2. 8 Samuel Woodhouse, Jr., “Special Silver Catalogue,” Pennsylvania Museum Bulletin , vol. 17, no. 68 (June 1921). 9 PMA 1922-86-19a,b. 10 PMA 1925-27-340. 11 Fiske Kimball, “The Museum of the Future,” Creative Art , vol. 4 (April 1929), p. xli. 12 PMA 1929-160-1. 13 “Philadelphia Silver, 1682–1800,” Philadelphia Museum Bulletin , vol. 51, no. 249 (Spring 1956). 14 Ibid., cat. 514. 15 Ghiselin porringer was cat. 110 and now is PMA 1957-93-1; the Nys tankard was cat. 307 and now is 1957-20-1. 16 Patricia E. Kane, “‘Is it a Top One?’: Walter M. Jeffords Collects Early American Silver,” in Sotheby’s New York, The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Walter M. Jeffords: Vol. III, Early American Silver , sale no. N08016, October 29, 2004, pp. 12-23. 17 Ibid., pp. 20-21. 18 Kathryn C. Buhler, “Philadelphia Silver,” in The University Hospital Antique Show (Philadelphia, 1969); Barbara A. Almquist, “A Touch of Class: Silver in Social Settings,” in The 1996 Philadelphia Antique Show (Philadelphia, 1996). 19 The Pratt cann is PMA 2014-66-1 and the Gorham tea service is PMA 2016-70-1—3. For the latter, see Spencer Gordon and Mark McHugh, “Global Exchange: How the Craftsmanship of Two Cultures Met in Gorham’s ‘Japanese Work’ Silver,” The Magazine Antiques , vol. 185, no. 1 (January/February 2018), pp. 105-107, figs. 5-6. 20 Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia: Three Centuries of American Art (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1976), pp. 54 – 55, cat. 44. 21 Ibid. 22 The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Walter M. Jeffords: Vol. III, Early American Silver , 2004, lot 643. 23 Christie’s New York, Important American Furniture, Silver, Folk Art and Decorative Arts , June 16, 1999, sale 9072, lots 73–79. 24 Beatrice B. Garvan, David L. Barquist, and Elisabeth R. Agro, American Silver in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Volume 1: Makers A-F (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2018), pp. 150–52, cat. 73. 25 Ibid., pp. 148 – 49, cat. 72. 26 Alice O. Beamesderfer, Gifts in Honor of the 125th Anniversary of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2002), p. 63, cat. 123. 27 Garvan, Barquist, and Agro, American Silver , pp. 69–72, cat. 24; the Hatting, Meyer & Warner pitcher is PMA 2005-43-1. 28 Ibid., pp. 38–39, cat. 8. 29 Ibid., pp. 424–26, cat. 258. n Thomas Fletcher (1787–1866), The Maxwell Vase, 1829. Silver, 24 3/16 x 20 1/2 x 17 3/4 x 16 1/8 inches (61.4 x 52.1 x 45.1 x 41 cm), weight 352 oz. 14 dwt. 16 gr. Purchased with funds from the bequest of Lynford Lardner Starr, 2010-5-1a,b