Tankard

The tankard was a popular drinking vessel in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century America, and some pewter examples are known as late as the first quarter of the nineteenth century. Their capacity ranged from a pint to as much as two quarts, although most held one quart. New York tankards, in either silver or pewter, exhibit little concession to the stylistic dictates of this period. By the second quarter of the eighteenth century, the tankard’s lid had evolved into a dome shape in Boston and Philadelphia, while New York’s preference for the crenellated flat lid persisted throughout the century.

On the death of John Bassett in 1761, his son Frederick, who had recently completed his apprenticeship, assumed responsibility for the operation of his father’s shop and became the third generation of his family to ply the craft. As his surviving work demonstrates a consistently high level of quality, he is acknowledged as the last of New York City's great pewterers.

Technical notes: The tankard is among the most complex domestic forms the pewterer produced. Five different molds were used to cast the base, body handle, thumbpiece, and lid, the latter attached with a three-part hinge here.

Related examples: Most closely related is Kerfoot 1942, fig. 20. Tankards in museum collections include Winchester et a1.1959, p. 189, no. 7; Fairbanks 1974, p. 63, no. 239; Montgomery 197S, pp. 118-19, 122, nos. 6–18, 6–22.

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.