Resembling a small lidless tankard, the can was not produced in England or America before the final quarter of the seventeenth century. The earliest examples are characterized by a globular belly and cylindrical neck—a shape probably derived from English redware and stoneware drinking vessels.  Van Dyck’s diminutive can displays a contour introduced about 1700, which constitutes an evolution from the vessel’s earliest form. In place of the usual two-part handle is a simple strap handle, reminiscent of seventeenth-century cast ones, and ornamented with a beaded rat tail.

Technical notes: The can is raised. The molded foot is soldered on.

Related examples: Jones 1913, p. 450, pl. CXXXII; Avery 1920, p. 52, no. 45; Antiques 48 (November 1945), p. 263.

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.