William Will
Cream Pot (Creamer)

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Cream Pot (Creamer)
Datec. 1764–1798
Made inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
MediumPewter
Dimensions4 3/4 × 4 5/8 × 2 3/8 in. (12.1 × 11.7 × 6 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by the Bayou Bend Docent Organization in honor of O. B. Dyer
Object numberB.2015.10
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Metals Study Room
Exposé

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

William Will produced a wide-ranging variety of pewter wares, from household items such as plates and tankards, to ecclesiastic pieces such as communion flagons and chalices. For this cream pot, he used the same mold that created the lower portion of the body and foot to make salt dishes. This practice was common among American pewterers, who sought to maximize their investments in costly molds by incorporating individual cast elements in as many finished products as possible. Such cream pots are among the most elegant 18th-century American pewter hollowware objects, closely following the configuration of contemporary silver examples.

Objects by William Will are among the most desirable in American pewter, owing to the ambition and achievement demonstrated by his work, particularly large hollowware objects. While this cream pot is not marked (no such cream pots marked by the maker are known), its attribution is firmly based on the work of Charles V. Swain in determining details of William Will’s use of molds to create multiple forms.


ProvenancePrivate collection; unknown public auction, 1982; purchased by [Melvyn Wolf, Flint, Michigan]; purchased by MFAH, 2015.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
[no inscriptions]
[no marks]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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