Samuel Kirk
Tea and Coffee Service

MakerAmerican, 1793–1872
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Tea and Coffee Service
Date1823
Made inBaltimore, Maryland, United States
MediumSilver
Dimensions.1: 9 5/8 × 10 3/4 × 5 7/8 in. (24.4 × 27.3 × 14.9 cm)
.2: 8 3/4 × 10 1/2 × 5 3/8 in. (22.2 × 26.7 × 13.7 cm)
.3: 8 1/4 × 9 5/8 × 4 3/4 in. (21 × 24.4 × 12.1 cm)
.4: 8 1/2 × 6 1/2 × 5 3/4 in. (21.6 × 16.5 × 14.6 cm)
.5: 6 1/2 × 6 1/2 × 3 3/4 in. (16.5 × 16.5 × 9.5 cm)
.6: 4 3/4 × 6 1/2 in. diameter (12 × 16.5 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by various donors in honor of Michael K. Brown
Object numberB.2019.6.1-.6
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Kilroy Center
On view

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

Samuel Kirk, the best known and most prolific of Maryland's silversmiths, was born in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, both his parents were descendants of English goldsmiths. He apprenticed as a silversmith in Philadelphia under James Howell before moving to Baltimore in 1815 at the age of twenty-one. He soon formed a partnership with John Smith, which lasted for approximately seven years. Dissolution of the firm was announced in May of 1821. Kirk continued in business under his own name, and his success was such that by 1828 over 90 percent of the silver submitted to the Baltimore assay office was of his manufacture. In 1846, Samuel brought a son into his business and styled its name as Samuel Kirk & Son; a second son joined in 1861, and the firm became Samuel Kirk & Sons. The brand survives today as Kirk-Stieff, though all operations in Baltimore ceased in 1999.

As the longest-lived American silver firm, Kirk’s wares span many style periods, from neoclassical to the revival styles of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The firm is best known for its mid-nineteenth-century products exuberantly decorated with scenic images or allover floral and foliate patterns. The service here, quite early in Kirk’s production as a solo silversmith, brings an expression of late neoclassicism more vibrant and energetic, one that is both characteristic of its time in its forms and decorative vocabulary and a presage of the work for which the firm became best known.


ProvenanceSamuel Winchester (1779–1856) and Frances Winchester, neé Mactier (1789–1854); Henry Hill Carroll (1830–1899) and Mary Jane Winchester (1832–1894) of Clynmalira, Monkton, Maryland; Duncan McCulloch (1853–1932) and Mary Sterrett Carroll (1861–1961), Glencoe, Maryland; Mary Winchester Carroll McCulloch (1889–1981), Sparks, Maryland; by descent to unknown family member; consigned to [Leland Little, Hillsborough, North Carolina, March 2, 2019, lot 1425]; purchased by [Spencer Marks, Ltd., Southampton, Massachusetts]; purchased by MFAH, 2019.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Each object with engraved initials on underside: S. F. W.
Each marked on bottom, incuse: S. Kirk
Along with Baltimore assayer's mark and date letter for 1823

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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