Jeremiah Dummer
Tankard

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Tankard
Datec. 1695–1710
Made inBoston, Massachusetts, United States
MediumSilver
Dimensions6 1/2 × 5 1/8 × 8 1/4 in. (16.5 × 13 × 21 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.69.115
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Metals Study Room
On view

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

The tankard is recorded in England by the thirteenth century, and it must have been among the earliest forms fashioned by American silversmiths. Patterned after English examples, this early type is characterized by sharp, vertically oriented sides, generous, sweeping handles, cusped thumbpieces, and the practical addition of a rat-tail body drop strengthening the juncture between handle and body. The Bayou Bend tankard masterfully incorporates all of these elements, integrating them with Early Baroque motifs such as the lip crenellation and the gadrooning.

Technical notes: The body and lid are raised, the two-part handle has air vents on either side at the top and a shield-shaped terminal. The lid is attached by a five-part hinge, and the thumbpiece cast.

Related examples:  Dummer tankards with gadrooned lids include Jones 1913, p. 380, pl. CXVII, no. 2; Clarke and Foote 1935, no. 92, pl. XVII; Hanks 1971, pp. 277, 279–80, no. 1.

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.


ProvenanceJohn Swain (1664–1738) and Experience Folger Swain (d. 1739), Nantucket, Massachusetts; given to their daughter Hannah (Mrs. Thomas Gardner, Sr., d. 1779); given to her son Thomas Gardner, Jr. (1736–1830); given to his son Charles Gardner (1769–1848); given to his brother Edmund Gardner (1785–1875); given to his son Edmund Barnard Gardner, Jr. (1822–1905); given to his son Edmund Gardner (1855–1910 ); given to his son Edmund Sherman Gardner (1892–1942); Virginia Newcomb Gardner (Mrs. Edmund S. Gardner), 1954; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg,1954; given to MFAH, 1969.
Exhibition History"The Decorative Arts and Crafts of Nantucket," The Nantucket Historical Association, Nantucket, MA, June 20–October 17, 1987, (LN:87.22)
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Engraved on base: IS[S superscript]E [John and Experience Swain] and 1690 [added later]; THG 1740 [Thomas and Hannah Gardner, Sr.]; TAG 1784 [Thomas and Anna Gardner]; CAG 1817 [Charles and Abial Gardner]; ESG 1847 [Edmund and Susannah Gardner]; EB & MG 1875. [Edmund Barnard and Martha Gardner]; ECSG 1905 [Edmund and Cornelia Sherman Gardner]; ESG 1910 [Edmund Sherman Gardner]
Left of handle: mark of Jeremiah Dummer [Buhler and Hood 1970, vol. I, p. 325, nos. 7–18, 20]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

Porringer
Jeremiah Dummer
c. 1675–1700
Silver
B.69.116
Spoon
Jeremiah Dummer
c. 1680–1715
Silver
B.88.21
Two-Handled Cup
Jeremiah Dummer
c. 1666–1672
Silver
B.90.4
Pitcher
George Dummer & Co.
c. 1816–1823
Earthenware with polychrome decoration
B.84.13
Portrait of Anne Livingston (Mrs. John Champneys, 1746–after 1776)
Jeremiah Theus
possibly 1763
Oil on canvas
B.60.50
Pitcher
Jeremiah S. Hogue
c. 1866–1900
Alkaline-glazed stoneware
B.2012.72
Four-Gallon Jar
Jeremiah S. Hogue
c. 1866–1900
Alkaline-glazed stoneware
B.2012.71
Jug
Jeremiah S. Hogue
c. 1866–1900
Alkaline-glazed stoneware
B.2012.73
Tankard
Peter Van Dyck
c. 1710
Silver
B.69.118
Tankard
John Coney
c. 1695–1711
Silver
B.74.19
Tankard
Isaac Anthony
c. 1711–1740
Silver
B.69.106
Tankard
Henricus Boelen II
c. 1727–1755
Silver
B.69.102