Nathaniel Hurd
Teaspoon and Spoon

MakerAmerican, 1729/30–1777
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Teaspoon and Spoon
Date1751–1777
Made inBoston, Massachusetts, United States
MediumSilver
DimensionsTeaspoon: 4 7/16 in. (11.3 cm)
Spoon: 8 in. (20.3 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by the Houston Junior Woman's Club in memory of Patricia D. Baker
Object numberB.83.7.1,.2
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Metals Study Room
On view

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

The wavy-end spoon was succeeded by the spatulate type, first produced in England about 1710 and in the American colonies the following decade. The earliest examples retain the rat-tail joint, which was soon replaced with either a spatulate drop or a Late Baroque stylized shell. By mid-century a simple double drop, as seen on the Bayou Bend spoons, was introduced as an alternative. The earliest American teaspoons were fashioned during this period. However, it is highly unusual at this date to have matching dining and teaspoons.

Related examples: French 1939, p. 52, no. 312; Antiques 102 (September 1972), p. 368.

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.


ProvenanceMark Bortman (1896–1967), Boston; given to his daughter; [William Core Duffy, New Haven]; purchased by MFAH, 1983.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Engraved on back of handle: the Stoddard crest
Mark of Nathaniel Hurd [Belden 1980, p. 242]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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The Sheep Herder
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Lithograph
84.162
Capitulation of Vera Cruz
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1847
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1847
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Attack of the Gun Boats upon the City, & Castle of San Juan de Ulloa
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1847
Lithograph with hand coloring
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