Burnett and Rigden described themselves as jewelers and watchmakers, advertising silver, plated wares, jewelry, clocks, watches, chains, seals and keys, and framed prints, as well as pocketbooks for both sexes. Their advertisement heralds the major reorganization that occurred within the silver industry as individuals assumed the role of retailers, while an expanded, more specialized workforce transformed the shop master into a manufacturer and wholesaler. The Bayou Bend cup may have been manufactured by Burnett and Rigden or just retailed by them.

Technical notes: The body is a seamed construction.

Related examples:  Hollan 1994, pp. 43–44, nos. 16, 17.

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.