Northeastern silversmiths supplied the southern market with a vast array of goods.  Often these objects introduced new styles and patterns to the local craftsmen.  Another principal means of transferring designs was through the migration of craftsmen.  While Eli C. Garner was apprenticed to Asa Blanchard, Kentucky’s most famous silversmith, the Bayou Bend ewer’s ornament, and possibly manufacture, more likely represents Daniel Franklin Winchester’s contributions to the partnership. A native of Baltimore, Winchester apprenticed to Samuel Kirk.  At one time this vessel was paired with a virtually identical example, retailed by Bailey & Co. of Philadelphia, which complicates the identification of its origins.

Related examples: One marked by Garner and Winchester that appears to be identical, inscribed “Citizens / Stake Won by Lexington/ Times 3.42 ½ 3.41 ½  3.49 / Spring 1853,” is in Boultinghouse 1980, p. 24. See also Antiques 119 (March 1981), back cover.

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.