Samuel Vernon
Porringer

MakerAmerican, 1683–1737
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Porringer
Datec. 1704–1737
Made inNewport, Rhode Island, United States
MediumSilver
Dimensions2 1/16 × 5 1/8 × 7 7/16 in. (5.2 × 13 × 18.9 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.69.93
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Metals Study Room
Exposé

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

The similarity of Samuel Vernon’s porringer handles to English and Boston examples (see B.63.74) suggests their derivation. Years after this design was no longer fashionable in silver, it was reintroduced in pewter by another Newport metalworker, David Melville.

Technical notes: The bowl is raised, and die handle cast. There is no center point. 

Related examples:  Buhler and Hood 1970, vol. 1, pp. 270–71, no. 455; Buhler 1972, vol. 2, p. 555, no. 485; Conger 1991, p. 309, no. 186; Quimby 1995, pp. 170–71, nos. 126–27.

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff.  American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.


ProvenanceEdward Eastman Minor (1876–1953), Mount Carmel, Connecticut; given to his daughter Margaret Eastman Minor Prince (1913–1968), Chevy Chase, Maryland; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, 1954; given to MFAH, 1969.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Engraved on top of handle: S+S
Engraved underneath handle: AS[S superscript]M
Within bowl and back of handle: mark of Samuel Vernon [Buhler and Hood 1970, vol. I, p. 332, nos. 454–59]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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