Pewter cans were produced in America as late as the 1830s. More common than the tankard because of its lower cost, the can, too, was intended for hard cider, beer, or malt liquors. Typically it is of a cylindrical shape tapering downward, although bellied and barrel-shaped examples are also known. Quart and pint cans, such as the museum’s examples by the shop of Joseph Danforth, Sr. (B.60.65), were the most popular sizes but, as Samuel Danforth’s 1816 estate inventory records, half-pint, gill, and, presumably, half-gill sizes were also available.

Related examples: Similar Joseph Danforth cans in public collections include Hood 1965, p. 18, no. 41; Fairbanks 1974, pp. 39, 107, nos. 139, 140.

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.