John Skinner
Plate

MakerAmerican, 1733–1813
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Plate
Datec. 1760–1790
Made inBoston, Massachusetts, United States
MediumPewter
Dimensions1/2 × 9 1/8 in. diameter (1.3 × 23.1 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.60.75
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Pine Room
On view

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

Colonial plates and dishes, patterned after English examples, are characterized by brims that are multiple-reeded or broad and narrow. By the second quarter of the eighteenth century, they were replaced by either single-bead or smooth brims. In England the latter survive in quantity, yet in the United States their relative scarcity suggests they were never produced in comparable numbers. In addition to its rarity, John Skinner’s plate is distinguished by the prominent stamping of its original owner's initials.

Related examples: Fairbanks 1974, p. 105, nos. 90, 91.

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.


Provenance[Thomas D. and Constance R. Williams, Litchfield, Connecticut]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, 1960; given to MFAH, by 1966.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
[no inscriptions]
On underside: mark of John Skinner, Boston, 1760–1790 [Laughlin 1940, vol. I, pl. XLV, nos. 293 [twice], 294]
Incuse: Aw[w superscript]E [presumably the original owners' initials]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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

Measure
c. 1730
Pewter
B.60.60
Basin
John Skinner
c. 1760–1790
Pewter
B.60.82
Cann
Joseph Danforth, Sr.
c. 1779–1788
Pewter
B.60.65
Plate
John Danforth
c. 1762–1793
Pewter
B.60.74
Passover Haggadah According to the Ashkenazic and Sephardic Rites, 2nd edition
Solomon Proops
1712
Book with 31 folios including woodcuts and copperplate engravings in a modern calf, gilt-tooled and blind-tooled binding with modern paper flyleaves and pastedowns, housed in a modern green leather covered slipcase
2023.39
Basin
John A. Brunstrom
c. 1781–1793
Pewter
B.60.81
Tankard
John A. Brunstrom
c. 1781–1793
Pewter
B.61.44
Creamer
c. 1790–1800
Silver
B.61.11.4
Plate
c. 1750
Pewter
B.58.110.1
Plate
c. 1750
Pewter
B.58.110.2
Plate
c. 1750
Pewter
B.58.110.3
Plate
c. 1750
Pewter
B.58.110.4