New York City artisans employed a broad range of patterns for porringer handles. Among the most characteristic is this distinctive design with its three large piercings, also employed by silversmiths working in Albany, Utica, and parts of Long Island, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, regions that evince a New York City influence in their decorative arts.

Technical notes: See B.69.101.

Related examples: The Bayou Bend porringer was originally one of a pair; its mate descended in the Floyd-Jones family until it was bequeathed to the Museum of the City of New York (acc. no. 90.51.11). Other Pelletreau porringers with this handle include Buhler 1972, vol. 2, p. 592, no. 508; Failey 1976, pp. 142, 210, nos. 165, 244; Conger 1991, p. 323, no. 198; Quimby 1995, p. 275, no. 238.

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.