The Bayou Bend pitcher is among the earliest in the great progression of presentation commissions awarded to the celebrated partnership of Thomas Fletcher and Sidney Gardiner. While intended for domestic use, it incorporates many of the same elements as the partners’ impressive trophies. The massive paw feet, acanthus leaves, eagle’s head, and frolicsome dolphin finial, all derived from antiquity, are integrated into a bold statement of Grecian taste. The itemized bill for the pitcher indicates that the silver amounted to slightly less than half the total price for the finished product.

Technical notes: The feet are hollow-cast and soldered to triangular corner brackets concealed within the base. Repousse acanthus leaves encircle the body and crown the lid. The eagle's neck conceals an air vent. The lid is hinged. 

Related examples: Most closely related is one in the MFA, Boston (acc. no. 1995.45). Similar examples include Quimby 1995, p. 358, no. 347; one with Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York. Some of the same cast elements employed on the Bayou Bend pitcher are incorporated into other vessels by Fletcher and Gardiner, for example, Fales 1970, p. 150, no. 137; McClinton 1970b, pp. 213–14, no. 4; Buhler and Hood 1970, vol. 2, pp. 235–37, no. 928; PMA1976, pp. 292–93, no. 247; Waters 1984, p. 80, no. 43; Feld et al. 1991, p. 91, no. 65.

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.