Henricus Boelen II
Tankard

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Tankard
Datec. 1727–1755
Made inNew York , New York, United States
MediumSilver
Dimensions6 7/8 × 5 7/16 × 8 5/8 in. (17.5 × 13.8 × 21.9 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.69.102
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Metals Study Room
Exposé

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

In the eighteenth century, the New York tankard retained the slightly tapered sides and flat lid introduced during the previous century. Cast ornaments and profuse engraving, favored earlier, were virtually eliminated. The vessel, responding to a Late Baroque aesthetic, now introduces a simplicity of line and uninterrupted surface. A coin incorporated into the vessel's lid, the principal ornament, perpetuates a northern European tradition.

Technical notes: The handle is assembled with an air vent located beneath the upper section and in the cherub’s-head terminal. The coin depicts the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I and was minted at Kremnitz between 1691 and 1693.

Related examples: Miller 1937b, pp. 4, 46, no. 34; Buhler and Hood 1970, vol. 2, pp. 71, 73, no. 622; Puig et al. 1989, p. 224, no. 184, with a related coin attached to its lid.

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.


ProvenanceGovernor Lewis Morris (1671–1746), Morrisania, New Jersey; [James Graham and Sons, New York, 1954]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, 1954; given to MFAH, 1969.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Engraved on handle: IM[M superscript]M
Engraved on side: VCN and an unidentified arms and crest depicting a winged dragonlike animal with the indecipherable motto SUN AR DU HYNE [added later]
Engraved on base: 32 oz.
On both sides of handle: mark of Henricus Boelen II [Buhler and Hood 1970, vol. II, p. 276, nos. 577, 620–23]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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