Thomas Fletcher
Sauceboat

Public Domain

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Maker Thomas Fletcher American, 1787–1866

CultureAmerican

Titles

Sauceboat

Datec. 1830

Made inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

MediumSilver

Dimensions4 1/2 × 6 13/16 × 3 13/16 in. (11.5 × 17.3 × 9.7 cm)

Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by the Bayou Bend Provisional Class of 2012 in honor of Tricia Rosencranz and Jennifer Hammond

Object numberB.2021.10

Current Location

Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens

Metals Study Room

On view

Explore Further

Department

Bayou Bend

Object Type

METALWORK

DescriptionSilversmith Thomas Fletcher was once in partnership with Sidney Gardiner. Together they made some of the most notable American silver of the early 1800s. After Gardiner’s death in 1827, Fletcher continued in business. In about 1830, he made this sauceboat in the rococo style, rare for a Philadelphia silver object of that date. The sauceboat’s decorative language—with shells, scalloped edges, and a scrolling handle—more closely resembles that of examples made over fifty years earlier. It is possible that Fletcher made it for a client who needed it to match silver that he or she already owned.
Provenance[Jonathan Trace, Portsmouth, New Hampshire]; purchased by [Spencer Marks, Northampton, Massachusetts], 2021; purchased by MFAH, 2021.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Later engraved with a social security number and other unidentified alphabetic notations: A, ASG, and LL or CC

[none]

Marked on the bottom: T. FLETCHER / PHILAD. [within an oval and the name and city separated by pellets]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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