O c^ O ul- ^ .^- ^ noi^"^ %a3 11 !^ '^ .^^^ ■^ ^ u o ^10' %a: c;3 {•5 > (J 0! 1 Of-CALIFO/?^ ^OfCAllFO/?^/. ^, ^ ,\^E'lJNIVERr',>, L5^ C_IIDDMi\'.o. ^-t\J J \ i f ^ " ^ ^.i J / * 1 I " « J t » OFCALIFO% ^r at UMVtR^//, /f- > '^ ,AOFCAllF0/?;f/^ ^_ \> ilNlVEKSITt -ALiK, Lit tX)S ANGc:L.t-S. CALii=. THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS THE PRACTICAL BOOKS OF HOME LIFE ENRICHMENT EACH PROFUSELY ILLUS- TRATED, HANDSOMELY BOUND. Octavo. Clolh. In a slip case. THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS By HAROLD DONALDSON EBERLEIN AND ABBOT McCLURE Net, S6.00 THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF ARCHITECTURE By C. MATLACK PRICE Net, $6.00 THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF ORIENTAL RUGS By dr. G. GRIFFIN LEWIS New Edition, Revised and Enlarged Net, $6.00 THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF GARDEN ARCHITECTURE By PHEBE WESTCOTT HUMPHREYS Net, $6.00 THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE By HAROLD DONALDSON EBERLEIN AND ABBOT McCLURE Net, $6.00 THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF OUTDOOR ROSE GROWING By GEORGE C. THOMAS, Jr. New Revised Edition Net, $5.00 ¥ IN PREPARATION THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF INTERIOR DECORATION By EBERLEIN, McCLURE & HOLLOWA Y J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY PUBLISHERS PHILADELPHIA HATCHMENT BEARING THE SMYTH ARMS; PAINTED IN 1805 Christ Church, Philadelphia. A fine example of Decorative Painting Courtesv of the Rector and Vestry of Christ Church EJj^jEARLY AMERICAN^ ¥: ¥ RTS AND CRAFTS BY HAROLD DONALDSON EBERLEIX M AND ^^ ABBOT McCLURE WITH A CHAPTER ON EARLY LACE BY MABEL FOSTER BAIN BR IDG K WITH 2-i2 ILLVSTRATIONS THE DRAWINGS BY ABBOT McCLURE ^ ^ y » > » "I »7 , '.'' ''' i'i '.' ' COPYRIGHT, I916, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY PUBLISHED NOVEMBEK, 19x6 PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY AT THE WASHINGTON SQDARE PKESS PHILADELPHIA. U. S. A. ■ (•« ^ \^ cJL 1^ «.«Xi .Ju. • « « c c • •• .•••. ••• •• •* • •••*•• • ••••••• V\ K FOREWORD THE aim of this book is to present a thorough- going, informative, and practical guide to the Arts and Crafts of our forefathers for the ) use of the collector and general reader. Its timeliness ^ will be evident, for the present still offers opportunities ) of securing desirable specimens which the increasing ^ number of collectors will soon render difficult to come by. ') Private collectors, artists, archaeologists, historians, ^ museums and those reviving our old Arts and Crafts f are all, from their individual points of view, interested jL in the subject — and justly so when we remember the ^"^ wide and diversified range of early American work- j manship. J The period covered goes back to the beginnings of J permanent European colonisation on the continent of North America on the one hand and, on the other, includes the early years of the nineteenth centuiy. At- tention is directed to what things are to be found and, in many cases, where they are likely to be found. It will thus appear how rich and brOad a field lies open to the enthusiast, a field in some directions almost untouched. The general reader will find the record of early American achievement in the decorative arts so inti- mately interwoven, from the outset, with the stoiy of the nation's social and economic growth that it may not be disregarded if any value be attached to an intelligent and comprehensive knowledge of American history. ii FOREWORD Those who seek to revive the old fireside crafts and decorative household arts — some of them have already been and others are being successfully revived in both their industrial and artistic phases — will find the follow- ing pages pregnant with suggestion. This volume is the result of years of first-hand inves- tigation and has grown out of small beginnings in the form of articles that appeared in the pages of Arts and Decoration and American Homes and Gardens (the lat- ter now incorporated with House and Garden) and the authors here thank the publishers of those magazines for their courteous permission to republish the illustra- tions and such portions of the text as seemed desirable. So far as they are aware, the authors were the first to devote any systematic consideration in periodical form to most of the subjects herein treated, emphasising the elements of craftsmanship and historical sigTdficance. The publication of articles in the magazines above men- tioned extends back over a number of years. Owing to the wide interest evinced by numerous letters of enquiry, relative to the contents of these articles, from all parts of the country, it seemed advisable to present this miscellaneous subject-matter in peimanent and more exhaustive form. The authors desire to express their cordial appre- ciation of the assistance and co-operation of the follow- ing: The Honourable A. T. Clearwater; E. T. Haines Halsey, Esq. ; the officials and staff of the Metropolitan Museum for unfailing courtesy and helpfulness, espe- cially Mr. Kent, Mr. d'Hervilly, Miss Eobinson and Mr. Plimpton; Dr. Edwin AtLee Barber and the staff of the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art; Miss Florence V. Paull of the Boston Museum of Fine FOREWORD iii Arts ; the Librarian and staff of the Library Company of Philadelphia ; the Librarian and staff of the Pennsyl- vania Historical Society ; the Free Library of Philadel- phia ; the Library of the University of Pennsylvania ; the Eector and Vestry of Christ Church, Philadelphia; the Eector and Vestry of St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia; the Essex Institute of Salem, Massachusetts; Miss Anne S. Van Cortlandt ; Henry Chapman Mercer, Esq. ; Dr. Frederick Tuckerman ; James M. To^Misend, Esq. ; Charles Brendon, Esq. ; John C. Nippes, Esq. ; James de Wolfe Cookman, Esq.; Alfred C. Prime, Esq.; AYilfred Jordan, Esq., Curator of the State House, Philadelphia; Mr. Richard W. Lehne; Mr. James Cur- ran; and, finally, all those who have so faithfully assisted in the preparation of a volume requiring un- usual exactitude of mechanical details. Harold Donaldson Eberlein Abbot McClure Philadelphia, November, 1916 CONTENTS PAOE I. Introductory 11 II. Early Mexican Matolica and Glass ... 19 III. Early American Glass 28 IV. Decorative Metal- Work: Iron, Brass, Copper, Lead, and Tin 55 V. Early American Decorative Needle- craft 78 - VI. Silver; Domestic and Ecclesiastical.... 102 VII. Early Pewter 197 VIII. Early American Slip-decorated Pottery 217 IX. Decorative Painting on Household Gear 239 X. Early Portraiture and Allegorical Painting in the Colonies 260 XI. Early American Decorative Weaving . . . 272 , XII. The Art of "Fractur" or Pen-and-Brush Illumination 286 XIII. Handblock Printing on Fabrics and Paper 298" XIV. Early American Wood and Stone Carv- ing 303 XV. Early American Lace 321 ILLUSTRATIONS Smyth Hatchment, Christ Church, Philadelphia Colour Plate Frontispiece DOUBLETONES Mexican Maiolica Lavabo and Flower Jars 20 Mexican Maiohca Cistern and Vase 21 Mexican Maiohca Jar and Bason 24 Mexican Maiohca Salt, AlbareUi and Tiles 25 Seventeenth Century Beads; Nineteenth Century Cup Plates 32 Group of Stiegel Glass; Wistar Glass Vase and Pitcher 33 Early Milk Bowls and Tumblers; Bottle Mould and Bottle 42 Group of Stiegel Glass; Stiegel Tiunblers, Moulded Bottle 43 Stiegel Enamelled and Etched Snuff Bottle, Mugs and Tumbler 50 Moulded Bottles, Nineteenth Century 51 Cast and Wrought Iron Step Rails 56 Andirons, Tongs and Wrought Balcony Rail 57 Eighteenth Century Iron Hinges 62 Eighteenth Century Stove Plates: Cain and Abel; John Potts 63 Eighteenth Century Stove Plates: Joseph; Wedding Scene 66 Eighteenth Century Stove Plates : Tuhp Motif; Fohage and Flowers 67 Candlesticks, Footwarmer and Knockers 76 Sampler; Embroidered Picture 82 Pennsylvania German Towel Covers 83 Embroidered Pictures: Long Island; Pennsylvania 88 Night-cap Holder; Pocket-Book, Book Cover and Reticule; TMiite Altar Frontal, St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia 89 ' Quilted and Patchwork Bedspread; Pieced Bedspread 92 Quilted and Patchwork Bedspreads 93 Quilted Crib Valance; Tufted Bedspread 9S Five Plates of Chronological Key Illustrations for Silver Contours . . 102 Early New York Beaker; Small Oval Cup or Bowl 110 Forks; Four Mugs Ill Three^Teapots; Chocolate Pot; Two Coffee Pots ,118 Sugar Scissors; Porringers; Candlestick 119 Early Bowls; Hancock Plate 124 Patch Boxes; Revere Teapot 125 Heraldic Engraving; Cup or Beaker 142 Chronological Sequence of Cream Pitchers 143 Ghiselin Plate; State House Inkstand; Sugar Bowl; Syphon and Saucepan 1 54 Tankard by Cony; Hamilton Tankard 155 3 4 ILLUSTRATIONS Flagon by Morse; Tankard by Revere 166 Baptismal Bowl and Flagon, by SjTig; Plate and Beaker, by Gliiselin 167 Pewter Coffee Pot; Pewter Sugar Bowl and Cream Pitcher 198 Pewter Teapot; Pewi;er Platter and Bason 199 Slip Ware Plateand Meat Dish, Sgraffito 218 Slip Ware Dishes, Sgraffito and SHp-Traced 219 Moulded ReUef Octagonal Dish; Pie Plates and Mould 230 Painted Kas; Hadley Chest 242 Painted Iron Strong Box of Robert Morris 243 Painted Fire Bucket and Fire Hat; Painted Bride Box 250 Painted Tray; Painted Coffee Pots 251 Painted Clock Face; Banjo Clock; Painted Mirror Head 256 Painted Chest 257 Portrait of Kelpius; Painted Fireboard 262 Portraits at Manor House, Croton-on-Hudson 263 "Draft" Book of John Landes; Blue and White Coverlets 272 Blue and White Coverlets; Eighteenth Century 273 Blue and White Coverlets; Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries . . . 280 Linen vnth. Woven Pattern ; Handwoven Woollen Blanket and Linen Woven in Blue and White Chequers 281 Hand Made Colonial Rugs 284 Ephrata Fraciur Paintings: Flowers 286 Ephrata Fractur Paintings: Decorative; Music 287 Secular Fractur Paintings 292 Taufschein; Fractur Painting by EngUsh Colonists 293 Fractur Birth Record, by Enghsh Colonists 296 Hand Printed Linens; Paper Covered Boxes 300 Block Printed Wall Paper Borders 301 Carved Cherubs, Gloria Dei, Philadelphia; Overdoor Carving, State House, Philadelphia 304 Statue of Washington by Rush 305 Portrait Bust of Washington by Mclntire; Carving from Bolton Farm, . Bucks; Butter Mould 310 Butter Moulds 311 Carved Instrument Press; Philadelphia Library 314 Overdoor Carving, Mulberry Castle; Stone Car\'ing by John Bartram 318 Eighteenth Century Carved Tombstones 319 Lace "Prickings"; Lace Pillow 322 Ipswich Bobbin and Darned Net Lace 323 ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT Mexican MaioUca Jar and Albarello 23 Mexican Polychrome Tile 25 Mexican Maiohca Bowl 26 ILLUSTRATIONS 5 Mexican Maiolica Inkstand and Albarello 27 Old American Bottles 34 Cologne Bottle; Double Bottle; Salt Cellar 47 Glass Milk Bowl; Snuff Bottle 52 Wrought Iron Lock; Eighteenth Century 57 Weather-vane, 1699 60 Decorated Wafer Irons 61 Wrought Iron Lanthorn; Philadelphia Library 63 Warming Pan with Chased Copper Lid 71 Leaden Rain-water Head 72 Leaden Insurance Badges 73 Tin Sconces 74 Tin Lanthorn; Punch work Decoration 75 Silver Tablespoons and Teaspoons 134 Silver Porringer 137 Silver Brasier or Chafing Dish 141 Silver Saucepan 141 Silver Can or Cup with Handle 144 Silver Cream Pitchers 153 Silver Strainer 157 Strap work, Decorative Detail; Silver 168 Strap work, Fruit and Figure Detail; Silver 168 Makers' Devices for Enclosing Names on Silver Plate 170 Chart of Part Terms; Silver 171 Pewter Tankard and Mug 203 Pewter Coffee Pot and Teapot 204 Pewter Fluid Lamp and Measure 206 Pewter Fluid Lamps 207 Pewter Sugar Bowl, "Wriggled" Ornament 212 Slip Ware Potter's Implements 222 Green Glaze Jar 226 Sgraffito Mug; SUp Decorated Tobacco Jar 227 Slip Decorated and Sgraffito Dishes 232 Shp Decorated Deep Dishes 234 Painted Tin Box 258 Coverlet "Draft" 274 Coverlet "Draft" 276 Bearwood Hand Block 300 Small Hand Block 301 Carved Wooden Pie Cutter 305 Details of Carving from Penn Cupboard 306 Detail of Wooden Carving, Pilaster Capital 307 Detail of Motif from Hadley Chest 308 CHRONOLOGICAL KEY OF SILVER The illustrations of the Chronological Key of Silver Contours appear by Courtesy of the following: First Chronological Division: 1-7. Honourable A. T. Clearwater. 8. J. deWolfe Cookman, Esqr. 9. Boston Museum of Fine Arts Second Chronological Division: 1-15. Honourable A. T. Clearwater. Third Chronological Division: 1-16. Honourable A. T. Clearwater. Fourth Chronological Division: 1-4; 10-15. Honourable A. T. Clearwater. 5 and 6. In possession of H. D. Eberlein, Esqr. 7 and 8. 9. Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. C. Hartman Kuhn Collection, Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. CriRONOLOGICAL SEQUENCES: 1-21. Honourable A. T. Clearwater. The Pieces shown in the Chronological Key of Silver are by the following makers: E W (in rectangle) I C (crowned, in shaped shield, coney below) GOB (monogram in trefoil) Mark as above I R V. p. 173 I. W (in rectangle) D. H (in rectangle) Henchman (in rectangle) REVERE (in rectangle) J. Clarke (script, in long oval) D. R (in shaped oval) I. Edwards (italics, in rectangle) N R-V (monogram, in oval) D T (in rectangle) B. Burt (italics, in rectangle) Lion passant to right. E. D (in rectangle) I.D. (in oval) M. H. (in rectangle) I. L (in rectangle) Burger (script, in shaped rectangle) Mark as before J & M (script, in rectangle) Mark as before R. C. (script, in shaped oval) Mark as before {A. Underbill (in rectangle) A. U. (in oval) First Chronological Division: 1 and 2. Edward Winslow 3. John Cony 4. Unmarked 5. Garrett Onclebagh 6. John Cony 7. Unknown 8. Unmarked 9. Jeremiah Dummer Second Chronological Division 1. Unknown 2. Daniel Henchman 3 and 4. Daniel Henchman 5. Paul Revere 6. J. Clarke 7. Unknown 8. Joseph Edwards 9. Nicholas Roosevelt 10. David Tyler 11. Unmarked 12. Benjamin Burt 13. E. Da\-is (?) 14. John Dixwell 15. Margueriette Hastier Third Chro iNOLOGiCAL Division: 1 and 2. Unknown 3 and 4. John Burger 5. Paul Revere 6. Unknown 7 and 8. Paul Revere 9. Unknown 10 Paul Revere . 11. Andrew Underbill CHRONOLOGICAL KEY OF SILVER 12. Jacob G. Lansing 13. Unknown 14. Isaac Hutton 15. Daniel van Voorhis 16. Paul Revere Fourth Chronological Division: 1 and 2. 3 and 4. 5 and 6. 7 and 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. W. Roe T. Keeler P. Gordon Nicholas Coleman Unknown Unknown Lewis & Smith G. Forbes Fellows Dunn Chron'olooical Sequences: 1. Benjamin Wynkoop 2. Hendrik Boelen 3. John Dixwell 4. Margueriette Hastier 5. Samuel Drowne 6. Joseph Moulton II. 7. Samuel Minott John Cony Joseph Edwards Daniel van Voorhia G. Forbes (7) 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13 and 14. Unmarked 15. Paul Revere 16. Daniel van Voorhie 17. Benjamin Burt 18. E. Davis (?^ 19. Joseph Moulton II 20. Unknown 21. Lewis & Smith I. g L (in oval) S. R. (in rectangle) /HUTTON (in rectangle) I ALBANY (in rectangle) D. V. VOORHIS (in rectangle, twice, eagle displayed in lozenge, between) No mark with W. ROE (in rectangle) T. KEELER (in rectangle) P. GORDON (in rectangle) Leopard's head in oval, I. T. (in rectangle) Anchor, L. H. M (in rectangle) Same, in shaped rectangle G. FORBES (in rectangle) FELLOWS (in rectangle) DUNN (in rectangle) BWK (in heart) HB (in oval) Mark as before Mark as before SxD (in rectangle) MOULTON (in rectangle) fM (script, in rectangle) I Minott (script, in rectangle) Mark as before Mark as before Mark as before Mark as before L'nmarked Mark as before Mark as before Mark as before Mark as before Mark as before Mark as before BIBLIOGRAPHY Maiolica of Mexico; Edwin AtLee Barber. Printed for the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. Stiegel Glass; Frederick WiUiam Hunter. Privately PubU.shed. Tulipware of the Pennsylvania German Potters; Edwin AtLee Barber. Printed for the Pennsylvania Maseum and School of Industrial Art. Catalogue of an Exhibition of Silver, Used in New York, New Jersey and the South with a Note on Early New York Silversmiths by R. T. Haines Halsey. PubUshed by MetropoUtan Museum of Art, 1911. American Silver; The Work of 17th and ISth Century Silversmiths. Ex- hibited at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 1906. Introduction by R. T. Haines Halsey; Technical Description by J. H. Buck. Pub- lished by Boston Maseum of Fine Arts, 1906. Old Silver Plate; J. H. Buck. PubUshed by Gorham Co. American Church Silver of the 17th and 18th Centuries. Exhibited at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 1911. Introduction by George Munson Curtis. Pubhshed by Boston INIuseum of Fine Arts, 1911. Hudson-Fulton Catalogue; Silver Section. Pubhshed by the Metropohtan Museum of Art, 1909. The Old Silver of American Churches; E. Alfred Jones. Old Pewter; Malcohn Bell. Pewter and the Amateur Collector; Edward J. Gale (exceptionally good for American Pewter). Pewter Plate; an Historical and Descri{)tive Handbook; H. J. L. J. Massd. Samplers and Tapestry Embroidery; Marcus B. Huish. Quilts, Their Story and How to Make Them; Marie D. Webster. Hand Woven Coverlets; EUza Calvert Hall. The Bible in Iron ; Henry Chapman IVIercer. The Survival of the Mediaeval Art of Illuminative Writing among Penn- sylvania Germans; Henry Chapman Mercer. Early American Craftsmen; Walter A. Dyer. Colonial Furniture in America; Luke Vincent Lockwood. The Practical Book of Period Furniture; Eberlein and McClure. The .Ajchitecture of Colonial .America; H. D. Eberlein. Colonial Homes of Philadelphia and Its Neighbourhood; Eberlein and Lippincott. Besides these. Sundry Bulletins Pubhshed by the Metropolitan Museum, the Boston Miaseum and the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY PRODUCTS of the decorative arts afford the visi- ble evidence of man's progress in civilisation. This is true of the world's history considered as a whole. It is equally true of the history of each indi- vidual people. It is essentially true of our own history in both its Colonial and national j)hases. If we would fully know what manner of men and women laid the foundations of our country and builded thereon the first courses of a structure now grown to imposing size, if we would have a true and lively picture of their daily circumstances, we must know somewhat of the arts they practised, arts which, simple and homely as some of them were, none the less played a significant part in the lives of our forebears. In our school and college days the political and military aspects of our Colonial past were chiefly im- pressed upon us and their dramatic appeal to the imagination was often emphasised at the expense of the less obviously insistent factors of social existence. In our subsequent study, the homely, quiet forces have all too often been overshadowed and put in abeyance by national affairs that loomed larger upon our mental horizon than did the products of unobtrusive craftsman- ship. In consequence, comparatively little attention has been paid the less conspicuous but nevertheless 11 12 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS higlily important manifestations of a deeply implanted instinct, common to the human race in all ages and in every land, to contrive adornment and add the perennial interest of colour and design to everyday surroundings. Indeed, we have sometimes been in ' ' danger of wholly forgetting much that was worthy and memorable in the lives of our forefathers." Furthermore, we have been altogether too ready, in many instances, to attrib- ute specimens of worthy craftsmanship to an imported origin without sufficient warrant for the assumption. This has been notably the case with regard to silver, for how many know that there were more than four hundred silversmiths working in the American Colonies ? Thus, through our careless ignorance, has the American craftsman of past generations often been robbed of the recognition that is in justice due him. From the rude bone scratchings wrought by the primeval cave-dwellers to the delicately finished lacquer or the gracefully moulded and chastely decorated porce- lains made in China in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, or the wondrous fabrics and beautiful furni- ture produced by the artisans and craftsmen of Europe at the same epoch, the achievements in the several decorative arts furnish us with an eloquent commentary upon the men and manners of each succeeding genera- tion, and give us an insight into their social condition and ideals more intimate than we can get in any other way. If we remember Mr. Lethaby's dictum that ''art is the well doing of what needs doing," we shall better understand and more truly appreciate the spirit that actuated and inspired the artificers of the past who put into so much of their handiwork a vital quality and livening touch of personality that shame the products INTRODUCTORY 13 of sordid industrialism to which we of to-day have be- come too much accustomed. If work was primitive, and it often was, it was, however, honest and possessed of strong individuality, and generally showed a striving to realise, albeit blindly and imperfectly at times, the in- herently sound principle of ubiquitous grace, so dear to and so consistently practised by the Greeks, who deemed the meanest pots and pans not unworthy of comely shape and fitting ornament. Many of the articles were the product of Jiome manufacture, and so it would not be fair to contrast them with the work of skilled artisans. And yet, if we do contrast them with much of the cheaper present-day merchandise it would often be to the advantage of the home-made ; for, while frankly am- ateurish and primitive, few examples of this home-made work were downright ugly, as are the hideous carpets, pieces of furniture, and the like, sold by some of the cheaper establishments of to-day. Few things are more to be lamented than the lost art of "making things" formerly practised in families ; in this respect American homes are far below the peasant families of Eussia and Scandinavia, upon whom we look down for their igno- rance, but who could, we suspect, teach us many things in the art of living. If we look for a trustworthy com- mentary upon the intimate social histoiy of past nations and races in the varied record of the arts and crafts they practised and are w^ell rewarded, we may look, with equal propriety and with equally confident expectation of fruitful results, for an insight of the greatest value into the everyday social conditions of our own land in the past from a study of the work achieved by early American craftsmanship. Incidentally, we shall both establish for ourselves a truer standard of "apprecia- 14 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS tion of our historic and artistic heritage" and create a "more vivid and human background" for the events of our national history. The industrial arts ' ' touch life at many points and intimately ; and the students and col- lectors of Americana have been, unconsciously perhaps, reconstructing for us a more living picture of the men and manners of a former time, and history is made thereby a more vital thing. The collector has ceased to be absorbed entirely by the quest for a bargain and has become a delver after human facts." The story of the pursuit and development of the decorative arts in Colonial America is replete with varied and, needless to say, engrossing interest. From the beginnings of European colonisation in the new lands of the Western World to the end of the first quarter of the nineteenth century, while the afterglow of the Colonial period still shed its waning light and the exercise of the decorative handicrafts had not been wholly blotted out by the fast falling night of industrial banality and machine-made ornament of ugly, sordid character, we find a wide diversity in the products put forth by the workers in the decorative crafts and an equally wide geographical distribution of localities where they wrought. From the lofty table land of Mexico to the forests of Canada and Nova Scotia, craftsmen and craftswomen plied their skill, partly in a continuous commercial manner, partly in the occasional creation of some homely embellishment or the adorn- ment of some object of domestic utility. While several of the arts considered in the following chapters were carried on almost every^^here through- out the Colonies, others were purely local in their practice. Still others were applied in sundry different INTRODUCTORY 15 places where conditions favoured their pursuit. Of the arts or crafts practised more or less universally throughout the Colonies may be mentioned, besides the spinning and weaving of linen and the making of other homespun textiles, the weaving of woollen cover- lets, now eagerly sought after in all parts of the country and regarded with admiration both for their colour and the beauty of their pattern ; the piecing, patching and quilting of bedspreads; the w^orking of samplers and the more ambitious embroidering of allegorical, scrip- tural or pastoral pictures, both forms of stitchery held in high esteem as satisfactory evidences of proper and indispensable feminine accomplishment ; the embroider- ing of wearing apparel and lesser objects and, finally, among the activities pursued by women, the making of dyes and the dyeing of the threads or fabrics to be used in the sorts of handiwork just enumerated. These activities did more than satisfy the promptings of the world-old creative instinct ; they were a source of com- panionship and a boon to the woman who had to endure the inevitable hours of frontier loneliness. They pro- vided wholesome occupation for the brain as well as for the hands. If more of these household crafts were practised at the present day, contributing their quota of colour and constructive interest to humdrum and pathetically colourless lives, we should probably not hear of such appalling statistics of insanity among the wives and daughters of farmers. Many a city woman, too, might profitably take pattern from her grand- mother's manual skill and industry in womanly crafts. "While not a few are busied in a manner beyond criti- cism, there are, nevertheless, far too many whose pre- occupation with bridge, and kindred devices for killing 16 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS time, could well give place to employments better cal- culated to increase feminine capability, charm and dignity. Among the decorative crafts practised by men in practically all the Colonies, one naturally expects to find metal work and carving in wood and stone. The metal work includes the simpler decorative forms for domestic or architectural use in iron, copper, brass, lead and tin. Nor must we forget furniture making and decorative painting on furniture, glass, tin, and other substances — both arts pursued in distinctively local forms, at one time or another, along the whole Atlantic seaboard. The arts that were purely local began, in point of time, with the making of glass and maiolica at Puebla in Mexico towards the end of the sixteenth century. The next essay at making glass on the continent of North America took place at Jamestown shortly after the arrival of the colonists. Almost wholly local, too, were the later attempts at making glass until nearly the end of the eighteenth century. As will be seen in the chapter devoted to- early American glass, whether the establishment of eighteenth century glass houses was undertaken by Caspar Wistar, the picturesque Baron Stiegel or their energetic New England contemporaries, the manufacture of this brittle commodity was virtually confined to Pennsylvania, South Jersey and Eastern Massachusetts until the time of the Revolutionary War, or slightly later. The making of slip- decorated pottery was confined altogether to Pennsylvania with the ex- ception of sporadic attempts at a similar process in Connecticut and in West Virginia. The art of "frac- tur" painting also was essentially local and was prac- INTRODUCTORY 17 tised only among the German population in certain counties in Pennsylvania. The making of silverware, on the other hand, was practised wherever conditions were favourable to the craft of the silversmith, that is to say, in the cities and large towns or wherever there was a recognised centre of wealth. Hence Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, Eiclunond, Charleston, Newport, Newbury- port, Albany and various other places could boast the production of silverware of the most admirable work- manship at a very early date. Pewter was as widely made, and in much larger quantities, and the pewterers, not content with merely copying British models, orig- inated several interesting local forms which are noted in their proper place. Allegorical painting, sign paint- ing and very early portraiture, which is scarcely to be judged by the same standards as we are accustomed to apply under ordinary circumstances, were, like silver- smithing, practised chiefly in the cities or in centres of local wealth. Without entering into a full catalogue of all the Colonial craft activities, it is plain to be seen that every part of our country settled before the third decade of the nineteenth centurv has some share in early craft development, some point of interest, some cause for proper local pride. It is also to be noted that, in most cases, early American art was tinily folk art. That is, it was of and by the people. Therefore it was vital. The truest and most vigorous art has generally come from the people upivard and not from one or two in- dividuals doivntvard. Great masters in craftsmanship have been those that did the folk things pre-eminently better than their fellows. The vitality and vigour of 2 18 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS early American decorative craftsmanship are two of its greatest charms and it is gratifying to note that several traditional forms of craft expression have per- sisted to our own day in the Southern mountains while other forms are being revived in many different places and under widely different auspices. The industries of the Southern mountaineers have been placed on a basis pecuniarily remunerative to the workers, and their wares are marketed in the cities of the North by philan- thropists whose laudable philanthropy consists largely in helping others to help themselves. The excellent and growing collections of Americana in our museums are doing much to stimulate interest in the old and to en- courage the effort at revivals. If the following chapters shall contribute to an increased and patriotic apprecia- tion of the decorative craftsmanship of our forefathers or yield encouragement to the more vigorously con- structive task of reviving for our own use what was best in the practice of bygone generations, the authors will feel the most sincere gratification. CHAPTER II EARLY MEXICAN MAJOLICA AND GLASS MEXICO is a land of surprises. This is true, at least so far as most of us in America are con- cerned. Although Mexico is our next neigh- bour, we really know but little of the country or her history as compared with the knowledge of European countries deemed essential for every educated person. The majority of people, and well-informed people at that, do not know that the making of maiolica was a craft, important both artistically and commercially, as early as the last quarter of the sixteenth century, and that it so continued until near the middle of the nine- teenth, when it fell into a debased condition, from which in recent years attempts have been made, an\. CHINESE INFLUENCE, c. 17.50 Courtesy of Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art o o a Q . d o c cN PQ a 2 «j <^ §2 o X 3 ^ t ■< o 53 — d CIS £ >> 3 O Q EARLY MEXICAN MAIOLICA AND GLASS 21 pieces are due to the amount of firing and not to the varying proportions of the clay ingredients. After the various pieces were shaped and allowed to dry they were put in the first kihi. AVhen taken out of the kiln they were dipped in a liquid ghize or enamel and then allowed to dry. The decorations were next painted on in vitrifiable colours made from metallic oxides, and the pieces were then subjected to a second firing, during which the colours became incorporated with the glaze and took on the appearance of underglaze painting. The glaze for the finer ware was made of twenty-five parts of lead to six of tin ; the glaze for the common and yellow ware had twenty-five parts of lead to two of tin. These lead and tin oxides were carefully baked, ground, and mixed together, and water and fine sand were added. A little molasses was also put into the mixture to make it adhesive. Colours. It was permissible to use five colours in decorating the finer ware, and for the common ware three colours were permissible. This did not mean that the use of so many colours was in any sense pre- scribed, and many of the finest pieces have monochrome decoration. If vases and other ornamental pieces had polychrome decorations before the beginning of the eighteenth century, they have disappeared. Tiles, how- ever, which were classed as common ware, have been found in three colours and undoubtedly date from the seventeenth century, as they were built into the walls of churches and convents erected at that period. 'Blue, green, and yellow were favourite hues for tile decora- tion. It was also enjoined in the directions for making the fine pottery that the ware was to be first painted with black ''in order that its beauty might shine out." 22 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS This evidently meant that the pattern was to be outlined with black or dark brown and then filled with blue or whatever colour was to be used, for some of the early- pieces were treated in this way, especially some of the pieces done in the Chinese style. Varieties. The manufacture of Mexican maiolica may be divided into four well-defined phases, which began at successive dates, but several of which con- tinued concurrently. The first was the Hispano- Moresque phase, which lasted till the end of the seven- teenth century and shows a strong Moorish influence, w^hicli is characterised by the strapwork and interlacing scrolls. The second phase was the Spanish or Talavera, so called because the style of design peculiar to the maiolica made at Talavera, in Spain, furnished the in- spiration for a type of decoration developed by the potters of Puebla and practised by them from about the beginning of the seventeenth century to almost the end of the eighteenth. The third phase was called the Chinese, in which the motifs and style were derived from the Chinese pottery and porcelain imported into Mexico in the early seventeenth century. This style made its appearance about 1650, and endured to the end of the eighteenth century. The last phase was the Hispano-Mexican or Pueblan, which began about 1800 and lasted till slightly past the middle of the century, when it sank into a totally debased commercial style. By comparing dates, therefore, we see that the Spanish or Talavera and the Chinese phases apparently pos- sessed the greatest vitality and enjoyed the longest vogue, lasting concurrently through the greater part of two centuries. HisPANo-MoRESQUE. While it is quite true that a EARLY MEXICAN MAIOLICA AND GLASS 23 good deal of pottery and a good many tiles were im- ported into Mexico from Spain, from which patterns were copied or adapted, it is also quite true that the native potteries in Puebla were flourishing vigorously and the decorators there employed were fully capable of developing designs that displayed not a little originality, and this truly Mexican quality often helps to identify them as of Pueblan origin. The work- Plg. 1. A, inverted Peai^shaped Jar, blue decorations outlined with black, Talavera period, c. 1050-1750. B, Albarello or Drug Jar, same periud. Courtesy of Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, Philadelphia. manship, too, differs somewhat from Spanish methods, and a noticeable characteristic and almost infallible proof of Mexican authorship is the way in which thick, blue glaze stands out in visible relief from the surface. Talaveea. One of the characteristics of the Spanish Talavera maiolica was the introduction of animal, bird, and human forms along with flowers and foliage ( Fig. 1 , A), oftentimes crowded together without the least fcol- 24 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS ing of restraint in composition. Blue figure-work on a white enamel ground was also cliaracteristic. These features the Talavera phase of Mexican maiolica in- corporated, and another distinctive peculiarity is found in it besides — the tattooed ornamentation ''rudely- painted in dots and dashes in dark blue, ' ' which appears on many of the pieces of this period. It is distinctly impressionistic in suggestion, and must be regarded at a distance to get its real artistic value and see the coherence of its design. Another highly characteristic type of decoration found upon the Mexican Talavera maiolica consists of flowers, birds, or heavy conven- tional patterns, boldly silhouetted in raised dark blue, nearly covering the white surface. Chinese. So early as the fore part of the seven- teenth century trade relations of some magnitude ex- isted between Mexico and the Orient, and, naturally enough, a good deal of excellent porcelain and pottery from Cathay found their way through this channel to the shores of New Spain. Naturally enough, also, their presence produced an appreciable effect upon the colour, design, and shape of Mexican pottery. The Chinese influence, once introduced, lent a new refine- ment to the ware made at Puebla, and continued a powerful factor in the maiolica industry until quite the end of the eighteenth century. This influence is easily detected in colour, a full rich blue; in shape, in the contour of jars, which closely followed the lines of ginger jars, and, also, in the contour of vases, of which not a few were potted in the inverted pear form ; finally, in types of design and methods of decoration we find not only Chinese figures and decorative motifs freely employed, but also a noticeable following of Chinese forms of combination. MEXICAN MAIOI.ICA JAR (18 IN'CHEf^ HIGH). POLYCHROME DECORATION" PUEBLA PHASE, c. 1800 Courtesy of Pennsylvania Mu.scum and Srhool of Inrlustrial .Art MEXICAN MAIOLICA BA80N (20,>4 INCHES IN DIAMETER). BLUE TATTOO DECORATION; TALAVERA PHASE, c. 1680 Courtesy of Albert Pepper, Esq. 1. Muxiian Maiolica Salt, Polychrome Decoration. Mexican Phase, c. 1830 Courtesy of Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art 2, 3 and 4, Mexican Maiolica Drug Jars or Flower Vases. Blue Decoration. Talavera Phase, c. 1700-1740 Courtesy of Dr. Edwin AtLee Barber MEXICAN MAIOLICA TILES 2 and 3, Chinese Phase, Dark Blue Ground, Figures Reserved in White, c. 1650- 1700; 4, Painted in Blue, Talavera and Chinese Phases, c. 1656-1080 Courtesy of Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art EARLY MEXICAN MAIOLICA AND GLASS 25 Four varieties of Chinese decoration are found in the Mexican maiolica. In the first, designs in white are reserved in a blue ground ; in the second, Chinese figures appear in the scheme ; in the third, the impor- tant figures are of European character, but tliere is a perceptible addition of Chinese motifs, while in tlio fourth variety there are w^hite medallions upon whicli are conventionalised floral designs. Hispano-Mexican or Pueblan. The fourth phase of Mexican maiolica, the Hispano-Mexican or Pueblan Fig. 2. Polychrome Tile, Hispano-Mexican phase, c. 1780. Courtesy of Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, Philadelphia. phase, was really ushered in during the latter part of the eighteenth century by the introduction of a greater range of colours, in which greens, purples, yellows, and browns were of frequent occurrence. By the beginning of the nineteenth century the Chinese influence was a negligible quantity and the Mexican maiolists w^ere developing a style in which crudely drawn figures (Fig. 2) appeared. There was also greater chromatic latitude, and red, black, and other hues, in addition to those already mentioned, came into popular use. ]\Iuch 26 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS of the more delicate colouring, such as rose and mauve (Fig. 3), were introduced at a later date. Some of this fourth-period work was exceedingly gauche and clumsy, while some of it, on the contrary, was delicate in conception and beautiful in execution and colour. The period of decay had set in and, by 1850 or 1860, nearly all the ware of Puebla had sunk to a state of commercial vulgarity, with very little to redeem it. In very recent years etforts have been made to restore the craft to its old level, and much creditable work is being produced. The movers in this renais- Fig. 3. Bowl in green ftnd mauve, Ilispano-Mesican phase, c. 1800. Courtesy ol Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, Philadelphia sance of Mexican maiolica, while adhering to the old processes, are not copying the old designs nor trying to deceive purchasers. Since interest has been manifested in the old ware, fakers have sprung up and achieved a certain degree of success in counterfeiting the original pottery, so that a collector must be keen-eyed in ex- amining specimens. By close observation, however, and comparison with authenticated pieces it is possible to detect forgeries. The objects usually found in Mexican maiolica, besides the tiles with which the facades and interiors of churclies and convents were often encrusted, are albarelli or drug jars, jars for EARLY MEXICAN MAIOLICA AND GLASS 27 chocolate or cocoa, vases, barrel-shaped flower jars, bowls, circular dishes, salt-cellars (Fig. 4), inkstands, dishes, cup-holders, and basons. Glass. There is record of glass being made in Puebla at an early date, and much glass of beautiful quality and workmanship has been collected in Mexico. For a long time some of this was thought to be of Mexican origin and was so labelled in museum collec- Fig. 4. A, Inkstand. B, Albarello. Both polychrome. Hispano-Mexican phase, c. 1800-1830. Courtesy of Pennsylvania Museum and Schoool of Industrial Art, Pliiladelpliia tions. On more recent investigation, however, it turns out to have been of Spanish manufacture, made for the Mexican market. There are also simpler ineces of doubtful origin. It is impossible to say definitely whether they were made in Mexico or not. The best collections of Mexican maiolica are in the Pennsylvania Museum of Industrial Art, Philadcliihia, and the ^Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. CHAPTER III EARLY AMERICAN GLASS ONCE broken, never mended. The frailty of glass is proverbial, and doubtless it is chiefly because of this unfortunate quality that the search for specimens of the glass-blowers' art, an art of absorbing interest and variety, has afforded less encouragement to collectors than some other less brittle products of the craftsman's skill. Its fragility is cer- tainly to blame for our not having more of it left from bygone days. Even with care, accidents will befall from time to time and treasured heirlooms meet a tragic end beyond all hope of salvation from rivets or glue. And this, too, though one sedulously averts the ravages committed by well-intentioned but heavy- fingered housemaids, whose feather-dusters occasion- ally become veritable besoms of destruction. Nevertheless, despite all ruin and breakage, we still have a good deal of old American glass remaining — • quite enough to whet the appetite of the collector and add zest to the studies of the antiquary or historian. In the magazines that pay more or less attention at intervals to subjects of special interest to the collector or connoisseur, old American glass has received less notice than anything else. Indeed, such scant con- sideration has it been accorded that not seldom do people say in an incredulous tone, on hearing it men- tioned, ''Old American glass — ^what is that!" It is only since the recently awakened w^ave of appreciation for the smaller antiques of American origin has swept 28 EARLY AMERICAN GLASS 29 over the land that people have gone a-soarching in musty, dusty, and long-neglected corners and brought to light many a vitreous treasure whose existence they had entirely forgotten or to whose charms they had hitherto been blind or indifferent. High honour is due to glass by right of seniority among American crafts or manufacturers. Glass- making was the first manufacture engaged in by our English forefathers in Xorth America. It was first made in Jamesto^\Ti, Virginia, in 1608, and this initial essay at what is now a vast and immensely profitable industry was undertaken under the supervision of Cap- tain Christopher Newport, wdiile the second, a few years subsequently, was carried out under the eye of that most picturesque and redoubtable old hero, Captain John Smith. Glass, too, if we may believe the records, formed a part of the first cargo exported from the infant colony to the Mother Country to show what could be produced on this side of the Atlantic and excite an interest among men of substance and adventurous investors at home that might redound to the profit of the settlers. After the first manufacturing venture, we hear little or nothing of glass-making until, in 1621, a second glass-house was built in Jamesto^m, which continued in operation till 1625. Of the product of this old Vir- ginia glass-house we have but a few shattered frag- ments and a few coloured beads that seem to have been made for trade with the Indians. In a way, there- fore, the first American glass factory was also the first American mint. Eight Polos and Germans had been brought over to work at the first attempt at glass- making in 1608, and, for the second attempt, the London 30 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS Company sent out four Italians. Some of the beads produced in the second Jamestown glass-house are to be seen at Memorial Hall (a part of the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Arts), in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. Some are round, of the bigness of a pea, some elliptical, and a few square. In colour they are ''light transparent green with longitudinal white markings, opaque white and translucent turquoise.'' The w^orkmanshiiD of the beads attests a high order of skill on the part of the workers, as does also a frag- ment of a bowl top and a few broken bits of window glass — the* only remaining evidence of the output of this short-lived undertaking. Then glass-making was abandoned at Jamestown, and we hear no more of it till fourteen or fifteen years later, when different conditions attended the enterprise. Eude bottles, window glass, bulls' eyes or roundels, and sundry other glass articles, much needed by the colonists, began to be manufactured at Salem, Massa- chusetts, in 1638 or 1639, and some of the quaint speci- mens preserved to us, and still occasionally to be found in out-of-the-way places, date very probably from the inception of this first New England attempt. This venture was abandoned after three or four years. The next essay at glass manufacture was made in New York. There, in 1654, we find one Jan Smeedes operating a glass-house. In 1655, a rival, Evert Duyc- kingk, ventured into the field. What they made we can only conjecture, for no authenticated specimens of their handiwork have come to light. 'By 1683 a glass-house was in operation in Philadel- phia, one Joshua Tittery, a glass-maker from New- castle-on-Tyne, being employed in that capacity by the EARLY AMERICAN GLASS 31 '^ Society of Traders." In 1707, at Schwonksville, on the Perkiomen Creek, Pennsylvania, a member of the Pennypacker family founded a glass-house, which con- tinued in operation for four or five years and produced bottles and other articles much needed by the colonists of the neighbourhood. New York followed with two factories in operation by 1732 ; then came Caspar , Wistar's New Jersey factory in 1739, an enterprise of great importance in the annals of American glass; while Connecticut came next, in 1747 ; Boston records a venture in 1749, and in 1754 still another glass establish- ment was set up in Brooklyn by LoderAvick Bampor. Between 1750 and 1760 a glass-house was operated at Quincy, Massachusetts, which seems to have turned out little else than the coarsest green bottles. Between 1753 and 1785 a glass establishment of some conse- quence w^as conducted at New Windsor, Orange County, New York, and, between 1754 and 1757, the Glass House Company in New York made "all sorts of Bottles from 1 Qt. to 3 Gallons and upwards as also a variety of other Glass Ware too tedious to mention, all at reasonable rates," and sold them, along with ''Chymical Glasses" at their ''Store on the late Sir Peter Warren's dock at the North River," a spot on part of the Glass House Farm. Between 1763 and 1765, that extraordinar}" man, ''Baron" Heinrich Wilhelm Stiegel, was starting his glass-works in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, which, along with Caspar Wistar's earlier establishment at Wistarberg, near Allowaystown in West Jersey, may be regarded as the two Colonial enterprises of para- mount distinction and significance in the manufacture of glass, both from the great variety of the products 32 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS turned out and the excellence of their quality, and like- wise for the interest attaching to the personality of the founders. Both of these are treated more fully later in this chapter. In the latter part of the eighteenth and early part of the nineteenth centuries we hear of a number of glass factories springing up and being successfully operated for various periods of time. Some were quite meteoric in their careers and disappeared as suddenly as they arose ; others continued until varying local or personal conditions dictated their abandonment ; while still others, with singular stability, have continued in active progress to our own day. These factories were found scattered over different parts of the country. One was at Temple, New Hamp- shire (1779), another at Keene, in the same State. Boston (1787), Albany (1792), and, in Connecticut, Coventry (1813), also had important works. Besides the Caspar Wistar glass-house, founded in 1739, near Allowaystown, in Salem County, New Jersey boasted flourishing factories at Columbia (1812) and Glassboro (1775), the last named of which must be classed with some of the glass w^orks in Kensington (Dyottville, 1771), Philadelphia, and the Baltimore glass works (1790), all of them founded in the eighteenth century and enjoying the distinction of being the "oldest glass establishments in the United States that are still in operation. " It is interesting to note that glass-making was begun in Pittsburgh in 1795. As we have noted, the chief product of the James- town adventure seems to have been a quantity of col- oured beads for Indian trade. Not many years later, the works started at Salem, Massachusetts, engaged in GLASS BEADS MADE IX JAMESTOWX, MUGINIA, EARLY IN SEVENTEENTH CEXTIRY. NIXETEEXTH CKXTl HV GLASS CUP PLATES Courtesy of Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art STIEGEL GLASS OF CHARACTERISTIC PATTERN: COLOURED AXD MOULDED Courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City GREEN GLASS FLOWER JAR OF NEW JERSEY SPIRAL MOULDED PITCHER PROBABI MAKE, PROBABLY FROM WISTARBERG FROM WISTARBERG Courtesy of John C. Nippes, Esq., Haddonfleld, New Jersey EARLY AMERICAN GLASS 33 the making of bottles, and from thence onward, as one might expect, bottles and window glass were the staple products of the American glass factories, along with the other articles they turned out as demand required. The flasks and bottles blo^\m and pressed in moulds were a later development and enjoyed tremendous vogue during the first half of the nineteenth century. They were made in many colours, in a wide variety of shapes, and the devices moulded on their sides repre- sented every conceivable phase of American life, social, political, or what not. There were Henry Clay bottles and Jenny Lind bottles, Kobert Fulton bottles and Lafayette bottles, Washington bottles and Thomas Jef- ferson bottles — in short, if any American or distin- guished foreigner had attained either fame or notoriety, it was deemed sufficient cause to make his or her like- ness an outer decoration for the whiskey or rum bottles whose contents assisted the patriotism or pride of the possessor. The pressed glass ''cup plates," several of which are shown in one of the plate illustrations,* also belonged to the first half of the nineteenth century and were a concession to the objectionable table man- ners of the period which condoned the sloppy practice of pouring tea or coffee out of cups into saucers and drinking it therefrom. The glass "cup plates," deco- rated with a variety of designs, as accessories to this habit were meant to stand the dripping cups in and keep them from soiling the table-cloth while the saucers were perv^erted to an unnatural use. After the beginning of the nineteenth century the design of glass-ware seems to have experienced a period of pronounced decadence, and, altliougli a "dyed-in-the- wool" collector, inspired by collecting instincts only, 3 34 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS may find much to interest him in the later productions, it is chiefly to the glass of Colonial and immediately post- Colonial days that we must turn for grace of form to delight the eye. Even the old milk bowls, pitchers, jam pots, sugar bowls, and tumblers for common use pos- sessed a refinement of shape and a grace that captivate us. The decorative value of the old glass is very great. One needs only to glance at some of the specimens to be seen in museums and antique shops to be convinced of this. Furthermore, this decorative value is suscep- tible of profitable application to our own domestic needs. Fig. 1. Old American Bottles: A, fiddle-shaped, raised design of stars and ecrolls; B, ribbed or corrugated sides; C, spiral ribbed or corrugated sides, from Pitkin Glass Works, Manchester, Conn., between 1783 and 1830, blown in patterned moulds; D, square-shouldered snuff bottle, made at Coventry, Conn., c. 1825. Courtesy of Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, Philadelphia. One cannot help wondering what may have been the sources of the shapes in which many pieces of early glass were blowm, for forms quite as much as anything else experience a process of evolution or, at least, are traceable to some germ of suggestion. It is not at all impossible that some of our early flask forms were pat- terned after Chinese prototypes brought out by East India merchants whose importations caused the Orien- EARLY AMERICAN GLASS 35 tal note in so much of the Colonial household gear in New England and other parts of the country (Fig. 1). Personality, in every imaginable connexion, counts for more than we ordinarily realise. Its intrinsic force and the interest it compels now and again come plainly into evidence above the surface of the prosaic, every- day affairs and lay bare the romance attaching even to business dealings and enterprises that we are apt to regard as altogether commonplace. The inlierent ro- mance attending business venture and the glamour of picturesque personality are present quite as much in the inception and pursuit of early American crafts and industries as in undertakings of far greater extent and more recent upbuilding. This was notably true with reference to the manufacture of the Wistar glass in West Jersey and of the Stiegel glass in Pennsylvania in the eighteenth century. The founders of both enter- prises were men who would have made their mark in any community. Some biographical notice of each, therefore, is desirable and will doubtless contribute much to the interest and appreciation pertaining to the wares for which they were responsible. Caspar Wistar is one of those sterling figures that stand forth with refreshing piquancy in the sturdy pioneer age of our country. Baron Stiegel of Manheim presents one of the most picturesque as well as one of the least under- stood personalities in our Colonial history. CASPAR WISTAR AND HIS GLASS WORKS IN WEST JERSEY Caspar Wistar, who, in 1739, established the glass works in Salem County, in West Jersey, near what is now Allowaystown, came from Wald-TTilspacb, in the Electorate of Heidelberg, and settled in Philadelphia in 36 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS 1717. He engaged in mercantile pursuits and soon won recognition as a merchant of substance and active public spirit. To his merchandising he soon added manufac- turing, and was highly successful as the maker of brass buttons ''warranted for seven years." In 1726 he married Catherine Jansen, of Wyck, in Germantown (see ''The Colonial Homes of Philadelphia and Its Neighbourhood," page 236; Eberlein and Lippincott), and in the following year was born his son Richard, who eventually succeeded him in the making of glass and in the other industries in which he was interested. Like many another of the strenuous pioneers who aided in laying the foundations of our national pros- perity, Caspar Wistar was resourceful, always had his eyes open to opportunities to be grasped, and, what was more to the point, knew how to make the best use of them when they came. He had been keenly alive to the need of glass works to supply the constant and growing demand in the Province and the adjacent Colonies, for all the previous attempts at manufacturing glass had either been abandoned as failures shortly after their inception or else had dragged out a weak and insig- nificant existence. Accordingly, in 1738 and the early part of the following year, he acquired several tracts of land in Salem County, in West Jersey, a site that com- mended itself as uniting the advantages of an abundant supply of both Avood for fuel and sand and also, by no means the least important, easy access by water, as shallops and sloops could come up Alloways Creek to a wharf on the property. Here he built his glass-house and other necessary buildings, including a store for the sale of general merchandise. Late in 1739 the factory was put into operation with EARLY AMERICAN GLASS 37 the assistance of expert artisans fetched hither from Holland. In a document dated December 7, 1738, Cas- par Wistar agreed to pay Captain James Marshall for the transportation from Rotterdam of John William Wentzell, Casper Halter, John Martin Halton, and Simon Kreismeier. By the further terms of the agree- ment these men were to teach Caspar Wistar and his son Richard, and no one else, the mysteries of the craft of making glass. He, in return, was to * ^provide land, fuel, servants, food and materials," and "to advance money for all expenses, including their support, and to give them one-third of the net profits ' ' of the undertaking. At the period when Wistar set his glass factory in operation wealth was rapidly increasing in the Colonies, and one result of the prosperity was a corresponding increase in building. Houses were becoming larger and architecturally more imposing, and a great deal more glass was needed for glazing them than in previous years. That Wistar clearly foresaw a growing market for window glass, a market tliat was bound to expand rapidly under favourable conditions of supply, and that he also recognised the rich opportunity awaiting any one who could adequately meet the American demand for indispensable bottles of various types, we may be sure, knowing, as we do from his earlier history, his characteristic business acumen. The importance of the conditions just alluded to, and the improving facili- ties for water traffic with the other Colonies from Phila- delphia as a shipping centre, doubtless influenced liiiii in reaching a well-matured determination to engage in the enterprise under discussion. The soundness of his calculations was fully borne out by the result of the undertaking, for the factory at Wistarberg was the 3S EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS first important, enduring, and commercially successful venture in the manufacture of glass in the Colonies. Under the conditions just pointed out, it was but natural that the chief output of the Wistarberg glass works should consist of window glass and bottles. But, though these two staple products insured the financial success of the new industry, sundry articles of house- hold ware were made as the demand for them became evident or as the initiative of the workers prompted their design and manufacture from time to time. These articles included dishes, the several sorts of drinking vessels, bowls, pitchers, j^ickle jars, snuff canisters, scent bottles, drug bottles, lamp glasses, vases, meas- ures, mustard pots, pitchers, and like objects of utility or decoration. Globes, tubes, and other laboratorv ac- 7 7 t^ cessories also formed a part of the output of the factory. The technical skill displayed in the making of these miscellaneous wares was of no mean order, and, in colour and design, the pieces possessed a marked individuality and genuine refinement. Inasmuch as the skilled workmen employed at Wistarberg came from Holland, at least at the beginning of operations, it is easy to understand the characteristically Dutch forms exhibited by many of the pieces produced in the factory. "Wistar was the first American glass manufacturer ' to make flint glass. This he used for the white and coloured table and household ware, sometimes employ- ing a single colour, sometimes combining several col- ours in the same piece or fashioning a pitcher or jar partly of transparent flint, partly of coloured glass. A rich green flint glass was evidently much favoured by the makers. Numerous pieces were also made in a rich brown with a lively amber light in it. AVhile dark blue EARLY AMERICAN GLASS 39 was not employed to any great extent, as it was after- wards at the Stiegel works, such as was made was of exceptionally fine quality. Interesting and varied deco- rative effects w^ere obtained by superimposing coatings of glass, in sundry patterns such as waves and spirals, upon portions of partly finished pieces, the imposed coating and the original body then being welded to- gether. This method of variegation was in addition to the combination, before mentioned, of several colours, where one finds clear flint or emerald green with opaque ■ white; clear flint or emerald green with browm; blue, - green, and opaque white or blue, amber and flint. Then there w^re turquoise blue glass, both opaque and trans- parent, and a* ' bluish, golden opalescent ' ' glass, peculiar to the factory at Wistarberg. Some of the early * ' bottle ' ' or ''green" glass bowls, pitchers, and dishes showed agreeable green, bluish-green, or brown colourings. Caspar Wistar died in 1752, and the business was then carried on by his son Richard, who had been asso- ciated w^ith his father since the inception of the enter- prise. In September, 1769, when the Stiegel glass works at Manheim were flourishing vigorously, the following advertisement appeared in the Pennsylvania Gazette: "Made at the subscriber's Glass Works between 300 and 400 boxes of Window glass consisting of common sizes 10 X 12, 9 X 11, 8 X 10, 7 X 9, G X 8. Lamp glasses or any uncommon sizes under IG X 18 are cut on short notice. I^Iost sort of bottles, gallon, 1/2 gallon, and quart, full measure 1/0 gallon cafe bottles, snuff and mustard bottles also electrofying globes and tubes &c. All glass American Manufacture and America ought also encourage her own manufacture. X.B. lie also continues to make the Philadelphia brass buttons noted for their strength and such as were made by his de- ceased father and warranted for 7 years. Richard Wistab." 40 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS There seems to be good reason to believe that the glass works continued in uninterrupted and prosperous operation until the early part of 1780. At that time the business stagnation that had undermined or seriously affected so many other American industries made it advisable to discontinue work at Wistarberg, and the factory was offered for sale in the pages of the Penn- sylvania Journal, in October of that year, with the accompanying description of the plant : "Two furnaces with the necessary ovens for casting glass, drying wood &c. Near by are two flattening ovens in separate houses, a store house, a pot house, a house with tables for cutting glass, stamping mill, rolling mill for preparing glass for working pots. Dwellings for workmen. Mansion House, G rooms to a floor. Bake house and wash house. Store house. Re- tail shop kept for 30 years being a good stand IV3 miles from the Creek where shallops land from Phila- delphia, 8 miles from Salem, l^ mile from good mill. 250 acres of cleared land in fence, 100 acres of mowable meadow for large stock of horses and cattle. Stalling for 60 head of cattle, a barn, granary, wood house and wood lot." Eichard Wistar died in 1781, and, by the terms of his will, his executors had authority to lease or sell the glass-house. Thus ended an exceedingly interesting chapter in the history of American glass manufacture. To Caspar Wistar and his son Richard must be ac- corded the credit of having founded and conducted for nearly half a century the first successful glass-making enterprise in the Colonies, and likewise the credit of producing the first flint glass. At the same time, the Wistarberg glass factory must be credited with putting forth at an early date in Colonial history decorative EARLY AMERICAN GLASS 41 glass-ware of a liigli order of technical merit and artistic beauty that compares most favourably with, and often far surpasses, the finished products of a much later day. " BAROX " STIEGEL OF :\rAXHEIM The good ship Nancy, Thomas Coatam, master, sailed up the Delaware in Aug-ust, 1750, and on the 31st came to anchor in the port of Philadelphia, then the metropolis and most important shipping centre of the Colonies. Among her passengers was one Heinrich Wilhelm Stiegel — or Henry William Stiegel, as he later signed his name^ — a young German of twenty-one, hail- ing from the Rhine country near Cologne. His personal history prior to his coming to America and for a short period thereafter is obscure. Unfortunately, we can give but little credence to most of what has been printed about him in past years, but a considerable bulk of manuscript material relating to him and his enterprises may be found in the collection of the Pennsylvania His- torical Society. Aided by these documents, and as a result of careful search in other quarters, F. W. Hunter, Esq., of New York, an enthusiastic collector and in- vestigator, published, in 1914, a volume that has thrown much fresh light on the story of Stiegel and his ill- starred ventures. Whatever else may be uncertain, we do know that he was a person of substance, for he soon assumed a prominent position as a landowner and iron-master in Lancaster County, whither the business associations he formed, soon after his arrival, led him. It is said of liim that, dissatisfied with conditions in his native land and fired with enthusiasm by the reputed opportunities to be found in the American Colonies, he migrated 42 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS hither with a fortune of forty thousand pounds to in- vest in the upbuilding of a new country where he might shape his future without let or hindrance from Old- World tradition or prejudice. We know, also, that in November, 1752, he married Elizabeth Huber, the daughter of Jacob Huber, of 'Brickerville, in Lancaster County, who owned one of the oldest iron furnaces in the Province. Not long after, he built a house near the Falls of Schuylkill, now a part of Philadelphia, and seems to have kept up an active connexion both with city concerns and his affairs in Lancaster County. Li 1757 he bought a large interest in the Bricker- ville establishment, tore down the old building, and re- placed it by a larger and more efficient plant, which he named Elizabeth Furnace, in honour of his wife. As an independent iron-master he prospered and won wide reputation, largely augmenting, no doubt, whatever fortune he may have possessed at his arrival in America. He specialised in stoves with great success, constantly improving on early models until he finally put forth the famous ''Baron Stiegel" ten-plate wood stove. He likewise introduced an improved stove form of Ben- jamin Franklin's open hearth. Later still he made all kinds of castings for sundry purposes, and a consider- able item of his business was the supplying of sugar planters' and refiners' castings for the West Lidia trade. His stoves are still occasionally to be found and are sometimes ornamented with the much-favoured tulip device cast in one of the plates. Others bear the legend : "Baron Stiegel ist der Mann Der die Ofen Maehen Kann " also cast in one of the plates. 1 and 2, "Green" Glass Saucer and Milk Bowl, New Jersey, Early Eighteenth Century 3-7, Tumblers, Wine Glasses and Milk Bowl. EiRhteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries Courtesy of Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art 8 and •). Bottle Mould and Moulded Bottle. Early Nineteenth Century Courtesy of Pennsjlvania Museum and School of Industrial Art STIEGEL GLASS, COLOURED AND WHITE Courtesy of Pennsylvania IMuseum and School of Industrial Art " """~^ m~. ^ ■'-? ^. ■^ € ■i 1. Stiegel Glass Tumbler with Cover. Courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. 2. Pear-shaped Bottle with Tree Device. In possession of H. D. Lberlein, Esq. 3. Stiegel Glass Multi- coloured Enamelled Tumbler. In possession of Abbot McClure, Esq. EARLY AMERICAN GLASS 43 Whether Stiegel had or had not a right to the title of ''baron" has long been a subject of dispute, but the foregoing inscription certainly lends colour to the con- tention of those who believe he had. His manner of life and the state he always maintained about him in his prosperous days were probably suggested by early recollections of some such ceremonious surroundings rather than the result of mere fantastic vagary and love of ostentation. The varied accomplishments of which he gave evidence from time to time also bespeak an education and training beyond the ordinary that would have ill assorted with the charlatanry of an arrant impostor. In 1762 Stiegel associated himself with Charles and Alexander Stedman, merchants, of Philadelphia, who had bought a tract of land in Lancaster County w^hich included the small settlement of Manheim. In this enterprise Stiegel at first had a third interest, but increased his holdings, the partnership took the name of "The Stiegel Company," and acquired more and more ground, and, eventually, gained control of more than eleven thousand acres of the most valuable mineral land in Pennsylvania. In the end Stiegel bought the interests of the Stedman brothers from Isaac Cox, of Philadelphia, and became sole owner and master of a truly baronial estate. This large investment in un- developed lands with borrowed capital, along with dis- turbed economic conditions between Great Britain and her American Colonies and a too lavish expenditure for the upkeep of his personal establishment, was ulti- mately the cause of Stiegel 's undoing. Before the blows of misfortune fell, however, he was to make liis name famous, both as a manufacturer of exquisite 44 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS glass-ware that rivalled some of the choicest products of the Old World, and as an eccentric character about whom the generations that followed loved to relate picturesque stories. Soon after his association with the Stedmans, Stiegel began to turn his attention seriously to the making of glass, and, with his wonted energy, in a short time put the industry on a paying basis. His interest in this undertaking was so great that he seems to have preferred to be known as a glass manufacturer rather than as an iron-master. Between 1763 and 1765 he conducted the experimental steps of his new venture at'Brickerville while the larger glass works at Manheim were a-building. The output of the Brickerville works, of course, never rivalled the products of Manheim, being purely commercial and consisting chiefly of bottles and window glass. In 1763-1764, while in Eng- land, he engaged skilled English and German glass- blowers at Bristol to come to America, and it was doubtless to the presence of these trained workmen at Manheim that the Stiegel glass produced there owed much of its excellence and its well-deserved fame. Although Stiegel had a comfortable home at Eliza- beth Furnace, or Brickerville, his chief place of abode was now at Manheim, where he had built himself a spacious and costly house, in which he maintained a ret- inue of servants and altogether kept up a style of life quite in accord with the baronial title. It is said, when he drove abroad or went from one estate to another, that he rode in a great coach drawn by eight white horses with outriders. A pack of hounds was wont to precede this imposing equipage, and when the ''baron" either went out from or came back in state to his hall his de- EARLY AMERICAN GLASS 45 parture or return was announced by the firing of a small cannon. He is also said to have maintained a band of musicians to accompany him and play for his delectation at meals and other times, but if the truth were fully known, it would probably turn out that there were certain skilled performers among his workmen who voluntarily associated themselves for ensemble playing and occasionally gave recitals for the pleasure of their patron, who is reputed to have been no mean musician himself. In the same way it is highly probable that a thorough sifting of tradition and weighing of evidence would show the state coach with its eight horses to have been a coach-and-four, such as many people of substance kept at the time and used fre- quently. They were huge, lumbering concerns, liigh swung on springs, with folding steps to let down when the doors were opened. The coachman was perched on a high box in front, while behind, on the post-board, stood the liveried footmen. On the door panels were blasoned the arms of the o^vner, and there was usually some additional painted or gilt decoration. Several of these old coaches are still to be found in Philadelphia and its neighbourhood, and doubtless in other places as well, carefully treasured as curiosities by the descendants of the original possessors. Besides the lordly house at Manheim, with its tapestried walls and the quaint chapel in which the master was accustomed to expound the Scriptures to his retainers, Stiegel built himself a commodious office and the glass works already referred to. Tlie latter were constructed of bricks hauled from Philadelpliia in Conestoga waggons to Lancaster and thence to ^Maii- lieini. It is said that the bricks "were imported from 46 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS England, which may or may not have been the case, as Colonial bricks are frequently termed "English" or ''Dutch," to distinguish the traditional differences in size and shape which were perpetuated among the Colonists of English or Dutch extraction. The glass-house of these works, built in the form of a dome, was large enough, we are told, for a six- horse team to drive in, turn about, and drive out again. Here, in 1765, with thirty-five blowers in his employ, Stiegel began to produce the beautiful glass that is now so deservedly and so highly prized by all collectors and connoisseurs. The improved product won quick recog- nition, and the new venture proved a lucrative success, bringing the "baron" an income of £5000 per annum. A ready market was found for all the output of Man- heim glass in Philadelphia, New York, 'Boston, Balti- more, Lancaster, and York. In Boston, especially, the Stiegel glass w^as highly esteemed and much sought for, but in all the places named large quantities were dis- posed of, and, even now, pieces may be found from time to time in the neighbourhoods of its greatest distribution. In the immediate vicinity of its manufacture the field has been pretty thoroughly scoured, and most of the possessors of such pieces as remain are fully aware of its value and hold it at an almost prohibitive figure. Nevertheless, the patient and persistent collector is occasionally rewarded by a find, and the search is always well worth the etfort put forth. If one is in- terested in collecting this now precious product of Colonial craftsmanship, which is constantly becoming more and more valuable, it is a wise thing to scrutinise carefully the recesses of every junk-shop and the EARLY AMERICAN GLASS 47 shelves of every antique dealer, especially in the places where this glass once enjoyed wide favour. In addition to the glass for personal, decorative, and table use, the Manheim factory produced an ex- cellent quality of window glass, sheet glass, and all manner of bottles and flasks. Likewise all sorts of glass tubes and retorts for chemists and the general requisites for laboratories and scientific purposes were Fig. 2. A, Cologne Bottle blown in patterned mould, early nineteenth century; B, Double Bottle, early nineteenth century; C, Salt Cellar, early nineteenth Century. Courtesy of Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. manufactured in large quantities. It is to the articles for domestic use, however, that Stiegel glass chiefly owes its fame (Fig. 2). The list of these articles is exceedingly varied and in- cludes every kind of drinking glass — goblets, tumblers, rummers, flip and toddy glasses, wine-glasses of many patterns, steins and mugs. To accompany them there were high-shouldered cordial bottles, decanters, and 48 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS pitchers of sundry shapes and sizes. 'Besides these, there were all the necessaries for table equipment — salt cellars, pepper boxes, cruets, sugar bowls, creamers, finger bowls, vases and dishes, big and little, deep and shallow. For personal use there were ink wells, scent bottles, snuff bottles, and even small toys and ornaments. All these objects were made in flint glass — the col- ourless or "white" glass — and a great number of them were also produced in glass of different colours. A rich, deep blue was the favourite colour employed, but wine, amethyst, olive, light green, and deep emerald green were also largely used. Some of the articles, too, were bi-coloured, presenting combinations of flint and blue, flint and amethyst, and blue with opaque white. The quality of the flint glass is exceptionally pure and beautiful, while the coloured pieces possess an evenness and opulence of hue of peculiar ex- cellence. A disting-uishing feature of the Stiegel glass is its "high structural tension and resultant, bell-like resonance and brittleness characteristic of all early flint glass. ' ' Its texture is universally satisfying and beautiful. For decorative effects, besides those obtained by the use of a coloured body, Stiegel employed the processes of engraving, painting with enamel colours, and, for some of the wdne glasses, the blowing of "cot- ton stems. ' ' A good many of the articles, too, depended for their embellishment upon their tastefully moulded surfaces of "quilted" or other designs, the condensed pattern being impressed upon them in a small pattern mould prior to being blown by hand in the open air. The "cotton stems" were so-called because of the opaque, white spirals contained in the transparent flint stems. EARLY AMERICAN GLASS 49 The engraved glass is particuLarly pleasing in its lightness and remarkable brilliancy, the latter quality being seemingly enhanced by the presence of the en- graved design. The patterns of the engravings, while occasionally crude, are always graceful and instinct with vitality. A primitive quality of design, however, is by no means universal, and some of the patterns are of the most charming delicacy. Much of the glass painted in enamel colours quite rivals the Bavarian glass of the same sort, both in design and execution. The favourite colours used in the decoration of the Stiegel glass were brilliant reds, yellows, blues, and white, and, under the direct per- sonal inspiration of the ''baron," his workmen achieved most remarkable results. Besides the bandings and little decorative motifs, the subjects chosen for repre- sentation included bold, vigorous leafage, flowers, birds, animals, and, occasionally, houses and human figiiresi were attempted. The mug in one of the illustrations shows a castle with its turrets. Many of the conven- tionalised flowers and decorative bands are extremely graceful, and the lively representations of parrots and tulips, always favourite motifs among the Germans, are highly commendable. Stiegel's career as a glass manufacturer came to an end when, in 1774, as the culmination of his misfor- tunes, which had latterly fallen upon him in close suc- cession, he w^as imprisoned for debt. But, although the making of Stiegel glass ceased in an untimely manner, the impetus had been given and a high standard set, and many years were not to elapse before other at- tempts were made in other places to improve the aver- age output of American glass works. None of the other 4 50 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS manufacturers, however, since Stiegel's day has ever achieved such charming and artistic results, full of the vitality of true and intelligent craftsmanship. Stiegel's subsequent history is rather obscure, and what we do know of it is sad. He eked out a precarious existence by first one shift and then another, sometimes teaching school or giving music lessons, until his death in broken-hearted poverty. KINDS OF GLASS In studying the history of early American glass manufacture, there are two varieties of glass that must be considered — glass with lead as a second base, and glass with lime as a second base. The former is commonly known as "flint" glass, while the second is designated as "bottle" glass, "green" glass, or, after it has been made colourless by the use of manganese and careful processes of manufacture, as "crown" glass. Glass is a vitreous fusion or compound of silica (usually in the shape of sand) and at least two alkaline bases, one of them being some form of either soda or potash and the other either lime or else an oxide of lead, according to whether "bottle," "green," or "crown" glass, on the one hand, is desired, or "flint" glass, on the other. The quality of the resulting glass depends upon the purity of the ingredients entering into the composition. The coarse, dark glass produced by some of the early makers, known as "black metal," was composed of ingredients with many impurities in them. "Green" glass of a light sea-green colour, but of good quality, was the first product of American makers before Caspar Wistar entered the field. Early window glass and many of the old milk pans, bowls, pitchers, j,^ :^%f , »C21r -yuM 1 and 2. Stiegel Glass Snuff Bottle and MuK. Multi-Colourcd and Enamelled. 3 and 4. htiegel Glass Tumbler and Mug, Etched Courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City pi H 'A W W o M o 1— I fl ^ 03 1-5 cz." W ►-I H H O eq w Q O a 3 OQ 3 EARLY AMERICAN GLASS 61 mugs, and bottles are made of this ''green" glass and are beautiful in colour, texture, and shape. The small air-bubbles or "tears" very often seen in this old "green" glass are caused by insufficient "cooking." It takes from sixteen to thirty-six hours for the molten glass to cook before it is manipulated and either blown or moulded into its destined form. During the cooking process, impurities rise to the surface and are skimmed off, and the air-bubbles are thrown off at the same time. Lead glass or "flint" glass is softer than glass with a lime base, and is therefore better adapted to cutting, engraving, etching, and other processes of decorative manipulation. ARTICLES MADE Besides the staples of window glass and bottles, the following articles are to be found in early American glass : beads, milk pans, bowls, mugs, tumblers, goblets, wine-glasses, cordial glasses, decanters, cordial bottles, pitchers, large and small, finger bowls, sugar bowls, vases with and without covers, snuff bottles, drug bottles, scent bottles, laboratory equipments, such as tubes, globes, beakers, and flasks, of sundry shapes, pocket flasks and flasks for the cabinet, mustard jars, flip glasses, rummers, funnels, carafes, sweetmeat jars,, creamers, egg glasses, salt cellars, cruets, toys, jugs, compotes, and cup plates — everything, in short, that we are nowadays accustomed to having made in glass and some things, besides, for which we generally employ some other material. PATTERN AND METHODS OF DECORATION Up to a certain point the names of the articles in- dicate the shapes that may be expected, but in certain 52 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS of the pitcher, bottle, decanter, and vase forms, espe- cially, the nationality of the craftsman counted for much. For instance, we find many of the articles produced at the Wistarberg factory, where expert workmen from Holland were first employed, showing characteristically Dutch square and squat shapes, with bulbous lines in the curves. On the other hand, at Manheim, where many skilled workmen from 'Bristol were employed, we find shapes that have a close affinity with contemporary English forms. While speaking of form, a word must be said, in -y Fio. 3. A, Deep Milk Bowl of green glass made at Clark's Glass Factory, Washington, D. C. c. 1837; B, Snuff or Drug Bottle. Courtesy of Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. passing, about one article that is frequently met with of such an unusual shape that its original purpose is often a puzzle. This is the milk pan, a bowl-like vessel with flaring sides and a rim with a flat lip or spout. Milk was set away in these for the cream to rise. They are found of varying sizes and of different depths. Fig. 3 shows one of these milk pans or bowls. The decorative processes employed were cutting, etching, superimposing partial coatings over a partly finished body, enamelling in colours, and pressing in moulds. Gilding was employed to a very slight extent and only in the latter years of the Manheim f actorj^ << EARLY AMERICAN GLASS 53 COLOUR Besides the *' black metal" and the light sea-green green" glass, we commonly find transparent colour- less glass, emerald green, deep green, turquoise blue, both opaque and transparent, amber, brown, amethyst, reddish purple, and opaque white. The special colours to which the Wistarberg and Manheim factories were addicted are noticed in the sections devoted to those establishments. DECORATIVE DEVICES The decorative devices employed for the ornamen- tation of glass include the following that are most usually met with : Waves and spirals where a coating has been superimposed upon another body; diamond lattices, depressed ovals and circles, parallel spiral mouldings, applied mouldings, flutings and reedings in moulded forms ; lettering, foliated and floriated scrolls, flowers, especially tulips and fuchsias, birds, especially doves, in etched or engraved glass, and likewise geomet- rical hatchings ; scrolls of leafage and sprays of flowers, human figures, animals, birds, ships, houses, trees, castles, and steeples, along with lettered scrolls or ribbon and mottoes in the enamel painted glass; in the glass pressed in moulds, such as the later bottles and the cup plates, geometrical patterns, trees, medallions with heads and representations of historical scenes or objects. The study of early American glass is a subj(H?t that may well whet the curiosity of the historical student and tlie appetite of the collector. Specimens of it, and excellent specimens at that, are to be found throughout the older parts of the country. AVhile it is a matter 54 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS of historical record that great quantities of the Wistar and Stiegel glass were sold in certain localities, and while there is an especially strong likelihood of finding- bits of it in those favoured neighbourhoods, the glass produced by the various other concerns is widely dis- tributed, and any one who searches for it is almost sure to be rewarded with a find worth possessing. Stiegel and Wistar glass, too, had a habit of wandering, and one can never tell where a choice piece of it may turn up. In obscure parts of South and West Jersey excellent pieces of glass now and again come to light which it seems reasonable to ascribe to the works at Wistarberg. Apart from all antiquarian interest attaching to the subject, there is a deal of inspiration to be derived by those who would revive traditions of national crafts- manship. While the manufacture of glass on a large scale necessitates a large plant and adequate financial backing, there are some craftsmen who have essayed in a small way to produce glass possessing exceptional artistic merit, and, in their own way, they have admir- ably succeeded. It would be well worth their while, however, to study past American achievements, and there can be little doubt that a return to some of the old forms and methods of decoration would meet with an enthusiastic acceptance. The best collections of early American glass are to be found in Memorial Hall (Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art), Philadelphia, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. CHAPTER IV DECORATIVE METAL-WORK: IRON, BRASS, COPPER, LEAD, AND TIN A JUNK-HEAP is a pile of possibilities. One never can teU what a little poking and grubbing in one ^ of them may reveal. Ordinarily we do not asso- ciate the ideas of art or antiquarian research with heaps of scrap iron or other old metal, and yet it is from such scrap heaps, or from places of equal lowliness or ob- scurity, that many of the specimens have come that have brought to our acquaintance several crafts of no mean merit practised in Colonial America, crafts that had all but passed into utter oblivion. So little, indeed, do people in general know or realise of the deftly or curiously cast and wrought metal objects that chance occasionally brings to light, or of the circumstances of their making, that a foreign origin is more often than not attributed to them, when, in reality, they were fashioned by our own American craftsmen. The subject of early American decorative metal work may be divided into classifications covering what was achieved mth the follomng metals: iron, brass, copper, lead, and tin. Silver and pewter are each so important that they require separate chapters. IRON Iron was both cast and wrought by the Colonial craftsmen in decorative devices and patterns of greater or less elaboration as the occasion might demand. These two methods of iron working must be kept in mind in considering the work of the moulder or the 55 56 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS smith. Both methods were practised throughout the extent of the Colonies almost from the time of their first settlement. Cast iron, owing to the process by which it was produced, is inflexible and brittle. It cannot be bent, but breaks. The surface of old cast iron is granular or smooth, according to the exposure to which it has been subjected or the wear it has had. "Wrought iron is pliable, will bend easily, and is apt to show slight irregularities on the surface caused by the marks of the smith's hammer. Iron was so indis- pensable that furnaces were among the earliest estab- lishments of industry, and the smith was an invaluable member of every community. Consequently, the in- terest attaching to the achievements of the blacksmith or moulder are in no sense local, but extend to every portion of the older States. Most of us are so accustomed to taking the iron- work we see as a matter of course that comparatively few stop to contemplate the niceties of craftsmanship unless something occurs to draw our attention especi- ally to them in individual instances. The Colonial blacksmith, therefore, generally suffers at our hands the same lack of appreciation as does his modern suc- cessor, and yet, in nine cases out of ten, the Colonial smith was a far more capable and versatile artisan. The skill that some of them showed in their work was truly admirable, and a few of the inheritors of their tradition of thoroughness have remained in out-of-the- way places till recent times. The writers well remem- ber one blacksmith who could take a ten-cent piece and make from it an absolutely perfect miniature horse- shoe, using only the same tools he worked with, day in and day out, in shoeing the horses brought to him by IRON ANDIRONS WITH BRASS FINIALS, EARLVEIGHTEEXTH CENTURY; STEEL TONGS. In possession of Harold D. Eberlein, Esq. WROUGHT IKON BALCONY RAILING FROM WAREHOUSE OF STEPHEN GIRARD. PHILADELPHIA DECORATIVE METAL WORK 57 the neighbouring farmers. With the fresh recollection of such a feat of smithing dexterity on the part of one of the old-school country smiths, it becomes easier to understand and appreciate the excellence of much of the architectural and domestic ironwork of the Colonial and post-Colonial periods and feel a proper pride in it as an American production. For the sake of convenience we shall discuss the decorative products of the early American iron worker under the heads of Architectural Iromvork, Domestic Utility Ironwork, and Stoves and Firehacks. PiQ. 1. Eighteenth century wrought iron Look. Collection of the Pennsylvania Hiatorical Society. Architectural Ironwork. Under the head of architectural ironw^ork must be included hinges of all kinds, knobs, latches, latch grasps, handles, keys, key plates, locks (Fig. 1), bolts, knockers, gates, railings, foot-scrapers, weather-vanes (Fig. 2), and tie irons. Hinges were of four types — strap, angle, T, and H. All of them were wrought. Strap hinges were both short and long. Sometimes they were carried across the full breadth of a door or shutter. The expanse of ironwork offered an invitation for decorative treatment. At the large end, strap hinges were bent round into an eye to fit over a thumb or upright pin fastened to the door or window frame. Sometimes, at the thumb-end, 58 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS a strap hinge was divided into three sections and the two side pieces were turned outward in the manner of tendrils. While fulfilling a decorative purpose, this arrangement also supplied a reinforcement. In most cases, however, the strap hinge was a single strip of metal whose small end was peculiarly susceptible of ornamentation, and the smiths usually took advantage of it. The commonest form of termination was spear or cusp-shaped, single or triple, but numerous other patterns were evolved, according to the fancy of the worker. The spear-shaped ending was common to all the English Colonies. Besides this, there was another shape much favoured by the Dutch smiths of New York, North Jersey, and Long Island. Near the eye end the hinge was hammered out into a circle. The angle, the H and the T hinges are so called because of their shape. Their names sufficiently identify them, and the illus- tration shows their general characteristics, which re- mained distinct, notwithstanding numerous minor and local variations. Knobs, latches, latch grasps, and handles followed a few well-defined types, but exhibited minor variations attributable to the fancy of the individual worker. All of them, however, had grace of proportion and evi- denced a feeling for refinement of line on the part of the craftsman. "VVliile speaking of handles, attention should be directed to the combined handle and knocker to be found on many of the divided doors of Dutch New York and New Jersev. Key plates, keys, bolts, and locks (Fig. 1) also furnished inspiration for interesting design. They were generally simple in pattern, but very often bore some little grace of adornment where a surface or DECOR.\TIVE METAL WORK 59 contour admitted of its legitimate employment. Many of the locks and keys were of enormous size and com- plex mechanism, and the expanse of metal really de- manded amenity of design and workmanship. Knockers, while occasionally of unique pattern, were ordinarily wrought in simple but graceful shapes, many of which were afterwards reproduced in brass. The opportunity afforded for decorative treatment by gates and railings w^as so rich and varied that a whole chapter might readily be devoted to this subject alone. Both east and wrought iron entered into the composition of the more elaborate creations of this sort. Such ironwork is scarcely to be considered an object of the collector's quest, but it is a proper object for admiration and for emulation on the part of modern iron workers. The desigiis employed were character- ised by refinement and ingenuity. Inasmuch as this subdivision of the subject covers such a wide field territorially and in point of varied treatment, we can only bid the reader examine carefully all the old gates and railings that chance presents to view. An abundant reward of interest awaits the quest. While it is mani- festly impossible to discuss individual instances of rail- ing ironwork at length, it would be an inexcusable over- sight to pass on mthout calling especial attention to the several specimens illustrated. The railing from the balcony on the front of an old warehouse belonging to Stephen Girard, on Delaware Avenue, in Philadelphia, is of wrought iron. The other example is partly wrought and partly cast. Foot-scrapers, fastened into blocks of stone or marble beside doorsteps, also lent themselves to inter- esting manipulation. They were both simple and 60 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS ornate, but always well proportioned. The illustrations show how elaborately all these articles might be treated upon occasion. Weather-vanes as an object of embellishment were not neglected by the Colonial architects and the smiths who wrought for them. In addition to the scrolls, Fie. 2. Weather-vane, wrougnt iron, from the mill built by William Penn, Samuel Carpenter, and Caleb Pusey, at Chester, Pennsylvania, 1099. Collection of Pennsylvania Historical Society. tendrils, or other ornaments that graced the stock, it was not unusual for the peak to bear an appropriate device — such, for instance, as the mitre on the vane of Christ Church, Philadelphia, or the heraldic birds sur- mounting the vanes on the turrets of Mulberry Castle, in South Carolina. In the vane itself the initials of the master of the house or the date of its building were DECORATIVE METAL WORK 61 often pierced : witness tlie vane at Graeme Park, Ilor- sliam, Pennsylvania (see ''Colonial Homes of Phila- delphia and Its Neighbourhood," Eberlein and Lip- pincott), or the vane from Samuel Carpenter's mill sho^vTi in the illustration (Fig. 2). Then, again, the vane was not infrequently so cut that the pattern of some beast, bird, or fish would be silhouetted against the sky. Oftentimes the vanes and the stocks sup- porting them, as well as any accompanying metal embellishments, were gilded or painted. Fig. 3. Wafer Irons. Frishmuth collection, Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. Tie irons, used to brace the ends of beams and pull the masonry of walls in toward them, were the subjects of decorative effort in many cases. Occasionally they were shaped to form figures indicating the date of a building's erection or the initials of the o^^^ler. Then, again, they were sometimes made in fanciful devices. Domestic Utility Ieonwork. Among the articles in- cluded under the above category were numbered wafer 62 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS irons (Fig. 3), waffle irons, trivets, gridirons, lamps, tongs, shovels, andirons, and other cooking utensils or fireplace paraphernalia. The wafer irons are exceptionally rich in interesting design. The flat inner surfaces which came in contact "with the wafer were fashioned with a great variety of designs, often exceedingly elaborate in character (Fig. 3). These designs were reproduced in relief on the baked wafer. Trivets of more or less intricate pattern, with pierced foliation, were made in different parts of the Colonies and lent their little additional note of charm to the fireside. Gridirons and other cooking utensils, though struc- turally of the utmost simplicity, were often given a decorative value and grace by making the handles or some of the bars with a spiral twist and turning the ends over in a curve. Tongs and the handles of hearth shovels were nearly always wrought with an eye to pleasing contour, but the andirons were the articles of fireplace equipment upon which the smith spent his best efforts, both as regards general outline and the shaping of such details as feet, stocks, and finials. Many of the early andirons, wrought by obscure local smiths, possess a degree of grace that some of their more pretentious successors in brass have failed to retain. Little iron lard-oil lamps and the so-called ^'betty" lamps, intended to hang on the end of a mantel or hook over the back of a chair, occasionally bore some small ornament on tlie handle by which the lid was lifted, or on the shank of the hook by which the lamp itself was suspended. Jm m»s> "'■ S- •ww:^^^^- EIGHTEENTH CEXTUKV HINGES. WHOlCiHT IRON Frishmuth Collection, Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art • % ■' ■w.:^v PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN CAST IRON STOVEPLATE; CAIN AND ABEL Courtesy of Henry Chapman Mercer, Esq., Font Hill, Doyles- town, Bucks, Pennsylvania PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN CAST IRON STOVEPLATE B5f JOHN POTTS Courtesy of Henry Chapman Mercer, Esq., Font Hill, Doylestown, Bucks, Pennsylvania DECORATIVE METAL WORK 63 Then, again, very graceful hanging lamps or Ian- thorns with glass sides, were fashioned of wrought iron. The old lamp or lanthorn, shown in the illustration (Fig. 4), made for the Philadelphia Library in 1731 and now hanging just inside the entrance of the present building, is an excellent example of this type of lighting equipment made at an early date. Stove Plates and Firebacks. Many of the curious cast-iron plates that come to light now and again were, Fig. 4. Wrought iron Lanthorn. Courtesy of the Library Company of Philadelphia. for a long time, regarded as firebacks, when, in truth, they are something quite different. The patient in- vestigations and assiduous collecting of Henry Chap- man Mercer, Esq., to whose painstaking antiquarian research we owe much in other fields also, have iden- tified them as parts of the old five-plate and six-plate stoves made in the middle of the eighteenth century. It does not, at first, sound very promising to speak about fragments of old stoves, and yet these Colonial 64 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS stove plates have in them a ' ' leaven of art ' ' that invests them with unusual interest. Primitive they are, to be sure, but their wide variety of quaint design, the naive conception and choice of subjects thereon depicted, and their dramatic elemental vigour of execution render them fascinating as an ingenuous expression of folk-art. Before passing to a discussion of the individual ex- amples illustrated, it is necessary to tell exactly how these ''iron heirlooms" of Colonial life were used and in what condition they were latterly discovered. Those that had not found their way to the scrap heap of the junk dealer — thousands of them, doubtless, have gone thence to be melted and recast in some other form — had been '' abandoned to rust and weather, as pavings for fireplaces, smoke-houses, and bake-ovens, as the sluices of dams and the bridges of gutters, " or a score of other purposes for which they were not originally intended. The vicissitudes through which they have passed will explain their frequently battered and corroded condi- tion, which is occasionally so bad that the device and its accompanying inscription are well-nigh indecipherable. These plates are all approximately two feet square — some are slightly more and some are less — and five of them, clamped together, formed what has been called a "jamb stove." It consisted of a simple box, made of these plates, built into a chimney jamb or the back of a fireplace and protruding into the room it was intended to warm on the other side of the wall into which the fire- place was built. Hot, glowing embers were shovelled into this box from the fireplace and allowed to smoulder there so long as there was any heat in them. Then they were scraped out and others put in their place. The only opening from this five-plated box was in the fire- DECORATIVE METAL WORK 65 place, whence the embers were shovelled in. There was no aperture of any kind in the room to be warmed where this box-like contrivance, projecting from the wall back of the fireplace in the adjoining room, was fully visible. It became so hot from its smouldering contents that it must have proved a fairly effectual radiator. The top and bottom plates were plain, while the two side plates and the end plate were embellished with elaborate and varied cast devices. The broad bevel at one side of many of these shows where they were built into the masonry of the wall, and it is therefore an easy matter to tell whether they were made for the right or left side of the stove. The end plate, which was clamped on to the two side plates, had only a rim and no broad bevel. Sometimes the end farthest from the wall had the ad- ditional support of two stout legs. Such was the struc- ture of the five-plate or *'jamb" stove. The six-plate stove, which was introduced slightly later, stood out in the room, had a stovepipe and a fuel door and draught opening at one end, but was intended solely for heating and not for baking or cooking purposes. From about 1740 to 1760 these stove plates were cast in great number, and this was the period of the best design. After that time there was a distinct deteriora- tion in the character of ornamentation employed until, with the introduction and growing popularity of the '* ten-plate" stove, all decorative inspiration withered and the cast embellishments descended to a low stage of commercial conventionality utterly devoid of any sug- gestion of craftsmanship or individual feeling. The decorated stove plates were cast at the old furnaces in Pennsylvania and possibly also in New Jersey and other Colonies, but of the Pennsylvania 5 66 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS plates we have the fullest and most certain knowledge. They were made chiefly at Durham, Warwick, and Elizabeth furnaces, the last-named establishment being operated by ''Baron" Stiegel, whose glass-making at Manheim forms the subject of a part of the chapter on "Early American Glass." The best plates, however, came from Durham and Warwick, for "Baron" Stiegel did not begin their manufacture until the period of decadence had set in. The casting was done in open sand and the moulds were made of wood, or, perhaps, in some instances, of stucco or glued clay. Quite apart, however, from all antiquarian interest attaching to the structure and manufacture of these early five-plate or "jamb" stoves, the decorative craft brought to bear in their making was a most important consideration, and it is just there that our present con- cern chiefly lies. The designs chosen for their adorn- ment were scriptural, legendary, or symbolic, and were expressed with a striking degree of vigour or a refresh- ingly quaint decorative sense, as the illustrations show. The patterns of the earliest plates were executed with bold, incisive drawing and a clear-cut, free sim- plicity that is exceedingly impressive and well calcu- lated to drive home the dramatic force or moral import of the incident pourtrayed, the legendary significance of the folk-lore allusion, or the mystic symbolism of the conventionalised motifs. In lieu of reading matter, w^hich was not abundant, these cast designs, conspicu- ously and frequently presented to the eye, performed a valuable service in the way of both education for the young and diversion for their elders. One of these plates, dated 1741, depicts the death of Abel at the hands of his insanely jealous and envious brother. LV ^^ '"• ' '' JOSEPH AND POTIPHAKV- W IFK WKUDIXG SCENE PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN CAST IRON STOVEPLATES Courtesy of Henry Chiiprnan Morcor, Esq., Font Hill, Doylcstown, Bucks, Pcnn.sylvuniu PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN CAST IRON STOVEPLATE BY "BARON" STIEGEL Courtesy of Henry Chapman Mercer, Esq., Font Hill, Doylestown, Bucks, Pennsylvania PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN CAftT IKON STOVEPLATE BY "BARON* STIEGEL Courtesy of Henry Chapman Mercer, Esq., Font Hill, Doylestown, Bucks, Pennsylvania DECORATIVE METAL WORK 67 Beneath a classic, festooned arcade, with the trees and vines of Eden in tlie background, like the setting of a stage, are the figures of the brothers in low but clear relief, costumed, curiously enough, in a garb that strongly resembles the dress of the Scottish high- landers. Burly, brawny, bare-armed Cain stands with bludgeon uplifted and just about to bring it do\\Ti on the pate of pudgy little Abel, who stands before his infuriated relative with hands deprecatingly outspread. Underneath is the legend, ''Cain Seinen Bruter Aivcl tot Selling," which might be rather literally and force- fully, though somewhat colloquially, translated, ''Cain slugged his brother Abel dead," for the unmistakably violent action conveyed in the spirited drawing of this scene of fraternal infelicity seems to require the use of the word ''slugged" rather than "struck." It will be noticed in these Pennsylvania stove plates that the inscriptions are often either partly or wholly in the peculiar local dialect form of the "Pennsylvania Dutch," and that abbreviations and phonetic spelling are also indulged in. The Cain and Abel plate is in an excellent state of preservation, as it was discovered unharmed in its original position. Another early plate, dated 1749, sets forth the en- counter between Joseph and Potiphar's wife. Mrs. Potiphar, with an air of grim and vixenish determina- tion, has seized the mantle of chubby-cheeked Joseph, who, to judge from the direction in which his feet are turned, is makhig a bee-line to escape from the clutches of his resolute temptress. Were it not for the attitude of his feet, it would be hard to say whether the ex- pression on his flabby visage is indicative of amusement or extreme sadness. The rough-and-ready and, withal. 68 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS tremendously direct conception and pourtrayal of scriptural scenes and personages on these plates are quite comparable in point of unconscious humour with the treatment of some of the figures in medieval painted glass. Still another plate, undated but of unquestionably early manufacture, shows a wedding scene and aifords an insight into the manners and costume of the time in which it was cast. Under draped arches springing from fluted columns, a portly, bewigged, and begowned par- son stands in a high, canopied wine-glass pulpit, about to join in matrimony the bride and groom, who ap- proach from open doors at opposite sides of the church. The groom, also rejoicing in a curled wig, cuts an impressive figure in his long coat. The bride, a dumpy little creature, tightly grasping a nosegay in her fist, looks much like a veritable Mother Bunch or a pen- wiper in her full-tucked double cloak. It is worth noting that all the figures in these early plates present a sing-ularly comfortable, well-fed appearance. Beneath the wedding scene is an inscription in Pennsylvania German which, being done into English, says, "Let him who will only laugh at this, make it better; many can find fault, but the real fun is to do better. ' ' A fourth plate of the early period, dated 1747, is rather cryptic at first glance. Close inspection, how- ever, shows that it is not one of the dramatic, descrip- tive, or symbolic pieces, but is purely admonitory in character. The whole treatment is just about as archaic as it could iDossibly be. The entire base of the plate is taken up with the legend, "Jesus aher Sprach zu Ihm iver seine Hand an den Pflufj legd iind seht zurilch der ist nicht geschickt sum Reich Gottes, Lc. A. 9" (And DECORATIVE METAL WORK 69 Jesus said unto him, no man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God. Luke, ch. 9) . This scriptural quotation supplies us with a clew to the meaning of the picture. At the left, beneath the cactus-like trees with the fluted trunk, is a plough which the ploughman, unfit for the Kingdom of Heaven, has incontinentl}" deserted. The presence of the field to be ploughed is indicated by the gigantic weeds — or, perhaps, they are stalks of rye to be turned under — and the sun is radiantly shining at the left, in close proximity to the conventional frilled curtain that seems to have been introduced at the north-east corner for the sake of architectural amenity. What the large circular device, like an aureoled star-fish or an old- fashioned pink-iced gingerbread disc, may be, it is Impossible to say. The plate dated 1751 and bearing the cross and tulip desigii immediately beneath the crown of each arch is one of the symbolic sort upon which some religious sen- timent w^as often inscribed, and is very similar in the general character of the composition to the Stiegel plate dated 1758. Tulips and hearts were always favourite motifs, and it is not impossible that the same craftsman may have made the moulds from which both these plates were cast. In all of them, whether of early or late date, there is a strong leaning towards the employment of architectural forms of ornament. These stove plates, made and used in the middle of the eighteenth century by the Pennsylvania Germans, are amusing for their very primitive tone and child-like simplicity, but they are more than that, and any one who sees nought but the humorous side of them misses their true significance. Along with the art of fra-ctur 70 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS and the making of slip-decorated pottery, they form one more link in the chain that bound the peasant crafts- manship of the Rhine countries with the craftsmanship of the immigrants in the New World. All of these crafts were direct survivals on American soil of institutions that were deeply rooted in mediaeval German character, and all of the articles made by the Pennsylvania German colonists had their prototypes and precedents in similar articles made in the Old World. BRASS The casting of brass was an industry or craft that American artisans did not engage in, to any appreciable extent, until a comparatively late date ; that is to say, till towards the latter part of the eighteenth century. Prior to that time it had been customary to depend upon England for such brass articles as were required. American cast pieces having a decorative value in- cluded knockers, candlesticks, door knobs, furniture mounts, warming pan lids, and buttons, the last named being in great demand. The making of brass buttons, warranted to last seven years, was, as we have seen in the foregoing chapter, a source of very considerable revenue to Caspar Wistar and his son Richard, of glass fame. In pattern the American-made knockers closely fol- lowed patterns that had previously been made in iron or the patterns of brass knockers brought out from England, so that it can scarcely be said that there were any distinctively American brass knocker designs. It is interesting to know, however, that American work- manship as exhibited in the making of knockers was in no respect inferior to that of the imported articles. The DECORATIVE METAL WORK 71 same is true in a general way of candlesticks, door knobs, and furniture mounts. The more elaborate work seems not to have been attempted. Warming pan lids furnished the greatest oppor- tunity for the brass worker to display his skill and inventive powers in decoration. Scrolls, conventional designs, oliage and flowers of all sorts were chased on the top surface of the lids. The illustration (Fig. 5) indicates the usual style followed COPPER The coppersmith, like the brasier, found his chief Fig. 5. Warming Pan with copper lid, chased decoration. Eighteenth century. Collection of the Pennsylvauia Historical Society. field for decorative expression in the lids of warming pans, which were made in copper as w^ell as in brass. The same style of chased work was employed for their ornamentation. Sometimes figures were cut out of copper in sil- houette and used to embellish tin sconces and simihir objects (see Fig. S, A). LEAD Lead has never been as popular a medium for deco- rative moulding in America as it has in England. Nev- ertheless, examples of good lead work by American artisans are not wanting. As in England, rain-water 72 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS heads for dowai pipes gave an opportunity for the dis- play of good craftsmanship in lead. Eagles, foliage, dates, and other devices were cast in the outer surface of the box-like head. The rain-water head bearing an open book, shown in the illustration (Fig. 6), was cast for the old building of the Philadelphia Library, at Fifth and Library Streets, Philadelphia, in 1790. The clasped hands (Fig. 7, ^) and the tree (Fig. 7, A), Fig. 6. Leaden Rain-water Head made for the old building of the Philadelphia Library in Library Street. Collection of Pennsylvania Historical Society. mounted on wooden shields and attached as badges to the fronts of eighteenth-century Philadelphia houses (the custom was continued well into the nineteenth century) by the two old fire insurance companies, the Contributionship and the Mutual Assurance (see "The Colonial Homes of Philadelphia and Its Neighbour- hood," Eberlein and Lippincott, pages 33-35), were cast in lead and then painted. Lead was also occasionally used for casting the fine DECORATIVE METAL WORK 73 detail — swags and drops or urns and similar forms — to be applied to the frieze of cornices on houses designed in the Adam style of late Georgian work. TIN Not a few well-fashioned articles of household utility were made of tin and decorated in various ways. The Fio. 7. A, Leaden Insurance Badge of the Mutual Assurance Company, Philadel- phia; B, Leaden Insurance Badge of the Contributionship, Philadelpliia, the first fire insurance company in America. Collection of the Pennsylvania Historical Society. tin articles of most frequent occurrence are sconces (Fig. 8, A and B), candle boxes, candlesticks, lanthorns, sand shakers, candle moulds, foot- warmers, tea-caddies, bread trays, and small tin boxes for sundiy purposes. Sconces of the simplest decorative form were made with their edges pressed into scallops (Fig. 8, B). Sometimes a species of simple embossing or repousse work was effected by hammering. Again, docoi-ntivo 74 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS devices were achieved by punch-work, the punch either piercing all the way through the metal or else merely indenting it. One example illustrated (Fig. 8, A) shows tlie application of a silhouetted copper device to enhance the etfect of the tin by contrast in colour. Yet other tin sconces with a painted decoration were japanned. Candle boxes, made to hang in farm-house kitchens, Fia. 8. A, Tin Sconce with copper circle at top, central tulip device punched. From an old church in Pennsylvania ; B, Tin Sconce with scalloped edge. Friahmuth Collection, Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. were often made cylindrical in shape and decorated with perforated or punched work designs. Lanthorns, both circular and square, with conical top and a ring handle to carry them by, were decorated with a punched design, the numerous small holes per- mitting the light from the candle to stream through. The more holes there were, the more light the lanthorn gave. The makers made a virtue of necessity and dis- DECORATIVE METAL WORK 75 posed the many punctures in ingeniously ornamental patterns. The illustration (Fig. 9) will give some idea of the character of the method pursued. Sand shakers, if decorated, were painted in the manner referred to in the chapter on *' Decorative Painting. ' ' Foot-warmers were intended to hold hot coals or heated bricks and stones, which radiated suflicient '.".-yi fi>° p'^ « (I Dlt Fig. 9. Punched work Tin Lanthorn with conical top. Eighteenth century. Frishmuth Collection, Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. warmth to comfort those using them on long, cold rides or during the services in icy churches and meeting- houses. Like lanthorns, the more holes they had, the the better they were and the freer the radiation of heat. The holes were punched in decorative patterns. The tin box body of the foot-warmer was contained in a wooden framework with turned spindles at the corners, and there was usually a wire handle to carry it by. 76 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS The tea-caddies, bread trays, and little boxes of divers shapes and sizes were ordinarily adorned with painted designs. The style of this painted decoration is discussed in the chapter on ''Decorative Painting." In parts of Pennsylvania, tin tea and coffee pots and some other pieces of hollow- ware were occasionally dec- orated with engraved or scratched patterns that sug- gest, in their design, the "wriggled" decorations on pewter. There is not a single phase of the early American metal work, whether it be in iron, brass, copper, lead, or tin, that is not pregnant with meaning for both the collector and the craftsman with a desire to revive what is good in the work of the eighteenth- and early nine- teenth-century artisans. The collector finds before him a field that has not been depleted by diligent search as have some others, and the field is co -extensive with all the older settled parts of the country. The increasing interest in Americana has added materially to the scope and volume of the collections in our different museums, and even such cities as Milwaukee — where there is a par- ticularly excellent collection — far removed from the habitat of the early colonists, have creditable showings of the products of eighteenth-century American crafts- manship. All of these collections are worthy of close study and have stimulated an intelligent and wide- spread interest. Many of the smaller objects, which it is possible to turn up with a little search, are still as suitable for household employment as they ever were and thus possess a genuine decorative value quite apart from their role as curiosities o| a bygone generation. The study of the early ironwork, in particular, has a Ay^ 1, 2 and 4, Brass Candlesticks of Eighteenth Century, Amcric^an Make; '.i. Iron Ciindlestick of EiKhteenth Century, Anieriran Make; .5, Early EiRhteenth Century Ainprican Punched Tin Foot- warmer; 6, 7, S and 9, Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century Anierirnn Brass Door Knockers Frishmuth Collection, Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art DECORATIVE METAL WORK 77 very iDractical and applicable value over and above whatever the individual craftsman may be inspired by it to do, for it is furnishing patterns to architects for reproduction in buildings of our own day, both in the matter of hardware and exterior ornamentation. The possibilities of an intelligent revival of lead- work are also beginning to awaken consideration. As to the smaller objects made of tin, decorators have found them so useful in filling a long-felt want that they are being reproduced, and the old style of painted decoration, also, is being attempted with varying de- grees of success. It may be said in this connexion that the most successful tin decorators are those that are most familiar with the old methods and patterns. This does not imply the desirability of copying, but it does imply the necessity of understanding the old spirit, which had the merit of being consistent and appro- priate in its manifestations with regard to both style and medium. Metal-work has occupied a humble place in the col- lector 's purview, but it is rich in worth, and the appre- ciation now awakened will go far to improve desigii in the making of modern objects in those same ma- terials. Perhaps the banal, commercialised, and often positively ugly forms of the articles usually made now- adays in the metals discussed in this chapter have been largely responsible for our past attitude of indifference or contempt. Excellent collections of Colonial metal-work are to be found in the Pennsylvania Museum of Industrial Art, Philadelphia; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City; the 'Boston ]\fuReum of Art, Boston, and the Milwaukee ^Museum, Milwaukee. CHAPTER V EARLY AMERICAN DECORATIVE NEEDLE- CRAFT OUR Colonial f oremotliers were paragons of com- I patency. One of the most important particu- lars wherein this manifold capability was everywhere noticeable was their marvellous proficiency in needlecraft. For any woman, rich or poor, to lack skill with her needle or neatness in her work was held to be cause for shame and rebuke. Admirable, however, as were the utilitarian per- formances in Colonial needlework, essays in the field of embroidery and ornamental lettering were quite as remarkable in their way, and are of immediate interest to us from considerations of decorative craftsmanship. Thanks to their universal skill with the needle, the women of the Colonial and post-Colonial periods were able to derive from an accomplishment that is apt to be more stressed in its homely utilitarian aspect a valu- able decorative resource, and to supply thereby, with their own handiwork, a general deficiency in mural adornment and small household embellishments. From the point of view of the collector, the social historian, and the reviver of domestic crafts alike, the achievements of decorative needlework make an appeal for consideration not local but universal in scope and affecting every part of the country with equal force. Wherever fresh settlements were planted by the newly come immigrants, thither the women of the colony brought with them the common heritage of stitchery lore that had formed an essential part of feminine education in the Old-World lands of their birth. It 78 DECORATIVE NEEDLECRAFT 79 was as much a matter of course for them to engage in the decorative manifestations of needlecraft, so far as the arduous duties of life in an untamed wilderness allowed them leisure, as it was for them to make cloth- ing for themselves and their families Besides that, the practice of decorative stitchery, however simple or limited in extent, afforded a legitimate channel for the necessary and natural expression of creative instinct, a subject to which allusion was made in the introductory chapter, and added a wholesome and cherished object of interest in narrow lives. The heritage of stitchery lore brought overseas by the first women colonists was perpetuated by their daughters and granddaughters, and, as leisure and affluence increased with easier conditions of existence, more extensive and more elaborate application was made of it. Just as the colonists, directly the first rigours of settlement were past and a little wealth began to accumulate, were punctilious that their attire should correspond in pattern with the modes in vogue in the Mother Country, so also were the women careful to learn and keep pace with current European fashions in the art of needlework. What were the range and variety of the seventeenth-century English needle- workers' repertoire of stitches may, to some extent, be gathered from the following lines of the poet John Taylor, written in 1640 : For tent worke, raised worke, first worke, laid worke, net worke, Most curious purl, or rare Italian cut worke, Fire, feme stich, finny stitch, new stitch, chain stitcli. Brave bred stitch, fisher stitch, Irish stitch, and Queen stitch, The Spanish stitch, Rosemary stitch, and mowle stitch, Tiie smartin<^ whip stitch, back stitch, and cross stitch; All these are good, and this we must allow, And they are everywhere in practice now. 80 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS Add to this brave array of stitches petit point, gros point, and a few more that "were everywhere in prac- tice, ' ' and one will hav^ a fair idea of the diversity of resources open to the proficient needlewoman. That some of the women who crossed the Atlantic to the American wilderness to make their homes were highly skilled in the art of needlecraft is a matter of his- torical record, and the samplers they brought with them are still in existence to attest the fact. Thus we may see that, from the very first, the practice of fine stitchery had a good start upon American soil. So indispensable was skill in the finer branches of needlework considered, all during the eighteenth and the early part of the nineteenth century, that, in a great number of cases, girls were not left to pick up at home what proficiency they could, but were sent to instruc- tresses who conducted schools for the express purpose. Advertisements in the newspapers of the period bear witness to the prevalence of professional instruction in the niceties of embroidery and kindred subjects, and in some of the ' ' young ladies ' finishing schools ' ' advanced needlework was the chief item of the curriculum. The following incident will serve to show the importance attached to aptitude with the needle as a dominant feature in feminine education. One illustration shows an embroidered picture, worked by a maiden of Salem, in West Jersey, in 17 — . She had been sent to Phila- delphia to receive the ' ' finishing touches ' ' and spent a year in the metropolis. As the result of her year's training she brought back the embroidered picture. It was a diploma that spoke for itself and by visible evi- dence substantially attested the reason for giving it. When referring to early American decorative DECORATIVE NEEDLECRAFT 81 needlecraft, one is too apt to have in mind only the samplers that our grandmothers and great-gmnd- mothers worked as children, and to forget the embroid- ered pictures, the sprays of flowers and leaves with perching birds, wrought on a white satin background, the mirror tops, the fire-screens and chair seats, the purses, bags and needlecases, and, finally, the sundry articles of clothing, for both women and men, embel- lished with fine embroidery. All of these articles were duly appreciated and cherished by the generations that made them, and bequeathed as valued possessions, de- serving of specific mention in wills and inventories. Many an embroidered skirt or waistcoat was handed dowm from one possessor to another and treasured by each owner in turn. When the frock or other piece of apparel, for which the embroidery was an embellish- ment, wore out, as often as not the embroidery was removed and put to some new decorative use. Thus the panels of the white altar frontal in St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia, are made from the embroidered satin wedding gown of one of the former members of the parish. The embroidery was exquisitely wrought, but the gown, a treasured heirloom, was falling to pieces, and it was deemed that no better or more pious use could be made of the embroidery than by converting it into part of an altar antependium. Inasmuch as the phases of early American decora- tive needlecraft were so many and so varied, it will conduce to a clear and orderly understanding of the subject if we observe certain classifications rather than attempt an unclassified discussion. The most natural divisions will be as follows : Samplers^ Pictorial Em- broidery, Patchivork, Quilting and Emhroidenj for the 6 82 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS Enrichment of Personal Attire and Domestic Articles of utility or adornment. The last class covers a wide field of needlework activity, embracing even the mark- ing of household linen and clothing. All of these sorts of needlework were universally and concurrently prac- tised throughout the extent of the land. SAMPLERS A sampler, as its name denotes, was an example both of the repertoire of stitches to be used and of the worker's mastery of them. It was also, to some extent, an example of the worker's command of design and lettering, the latter an important item of stitchery as well as the former, since personal and household linen had to be appropriately marked with initials and numbers. The well-spring of English tradition, whence came the immediate inspiration and precedent for early xAmerican needlecraft, is in itself of singular interest. As early as Tudor times, embroidered pictures were executed, wrought at first in emulation of tapestrj^, and in the Stuart period they appeared in considerable number and with a degree of variety that adds appre- ciably to the fascination of their study. These tapestry pictures, in point of date, precede the earliest samplers of which there are any remaining specimens. The sampler did not spring into being as a fully developed creation. Like most other things, it under- went a course of evolution, and the steps of this evolu- tionary process it is necessary for us to trace briefly. The sampler is unquestionably of great antiquity, and numerous allusions in contemporary literature show that it occupied a well-recognised position in the realm PICTORIAL SAMPLER WRCH GHT BY ANNA TUWNBEND UF NEW HAVEX, 17. Courtesy of James M. Townsend, Esq., New York City EMLRUIDLULD I'lCTLKE, A TE.STI.MoN LAL Ol' ACCi;Ml'LL>, Pear-shnped Tea- pot; '.» and 10, Tankards; 11, Covered Bowl; 12 and 13, Crenni Pitchcris; 14 and 15, Mugs; Iti, Thrce- fegtied .Salt. CHARACTERISTIC CONTOURS OF TIIIKD CH li( !N< U.cc ; 1( A 1, DIVISION, c. 1765-c. 180U 1-S, Toa-spoons and Table-spoons with Handle End Turned Dou'n, " Bright-cut " Engraving, Moulded Drops on Bowl, with or without additional Ornament; 9, Boat- shaped Salt; 10, 11 and 12, Tankards; 13, Cream Pitcher: 14, Straight-sided Teapot, "Bright-cut" Engraving; 15, Urn-shaped Sugar Bowl; 16, Oval Sugar Bowl or Basket CHARACTERISTIC CONTOURS OF FOURTH CIlRONUlA.C;KAU DIMSION c. 1800-C.1S30 1-6, Table-spoons and Tea-spoons, "Coffin-tieadod" and " Fiddlo-lieaded ; 7 and S Cream Pitcher and Hot Water .)uk; 9, Cup or Can; 10, Moulded Teapot; U, Ciadrooucd Oblong Sugar Bowl; 12, Moulded Cream Pitcher; 13, Moulded Oblong Sugar Bowl; 14 and 15, Mugs or Cups , 1 X ' 3 -4- 5 6 / >.r^^::f~ , r\«S . ^ '^M'>.' TSRg^ CHKUNOLUGICAL SEQUENCE OF CHARACTERISTIC CONTOURS 1-4, Mugs; 5, Beaker; 6 and 7, Cans; 8-11, Teapots; 12-16, Porringer, Bowls and Sugar Bowls; 17-21, Cream Pitchers SILVER; DOAIESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 103 at an early date. It was not long after the period of settlement of Boston and Philadelpliia before there was a demand for silverware by colonists whose affairs had prospered, and, in response to the demand, silver- smiths, or goldsmiths, as they were often termed, began to ply their craft and proved themselves skillful masters by the quality and design of their handiwork. As early as 1634, John Mansfield, a silversmith, seems to have been working in Charlesto\\Ti, Massachusetts, but no pieces of his work have been identified. In Boston silversmithing began before the close of the first half of the seventeenth century, and a mint, of which John Hull of pine-tree shilling fame was chosen master, was set up there in 1652. The profitable trade driven by New England with the English and Spanish colonies to the south resulted in a rich influx of coin into the coffers of New England merchants and provided abundant material for the silversmiths of Boston and other i^rosperous communities to work upon. In Philadelphia we find one smith, Cesar Ghiselin by name, a Huguenot who early cast in his lot with William Pemi's "Holy Experiment" by the banks of the Delaware. The said Cesar Ghiselin* made spoons and other articles of plate almost at the veiy outset of the city's history, and examjjles of his workmanship are shown in the illustrations. Thus was begun a worthy tradition that was worthily and widely sustained throughout the city's subsequent history, as abundant examples of her silversmiths' work bear eloquent wit- ness. Boston and Philadelpliia being essentially Eng- lish, their smiths naturally followed English patterns ♦This name is frequently pivon as C.riselm, wliich is incorrect. The name is (Jhisehn as here printed and was so spelled by the testator m his will. 104 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS and precedents in their silverware, even tliougii they might, as they frequently did, make modifications and adaptations and display originality that was quite dis- tinct in some of its manifestations from contemporary English forms. In New York, on the contrary, where some of the smiths, especially the earlier smiths, were Dutch and some were English, plate was made after both Dutch and English designs. While the earlier conditions under Dutch domination were scarcely favourable to silversmithing and trade was carried on chiefly by barter, affluence and luxury increased considerably after the English occupation, and, despite the small size of New York as compared with Philadelphia or 'Boston at that time, some exquisitely beautiful pieces of plate were produced during the eighteenth century and even during the latter part of the seventeenth. There is record of so many seventeenth- and eighteenth-century American silversmiths in what are now our large cities, and also in a number of old towns whose growth has remained comparatively stationary, although they were once important centres, and most of them seem to have prospered, that the inference is natural that a great quantity of silver plate — far more than is generally supposed — must have been made. Much of it still remains, and the fact that a yet larger amount has disappeared is easily explained by the habit our forebears had of melting their silver and converting it into specie in times of stress and necessity. In this way a vast proportion of it, doubtless, vanished during the War for Independence. Having one 's silver in the form of plate was, in the eyes of the colonists, tanta- mount to having it in the bank. Indeed, during the SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 105 seventeenth century and most of the eift-hteentli, in the absence of banks where they might deposit such surplus funds as were not needed for immediate expenditure, the conversion of coin into household plate afforded a convenient way of keeping it intact and also, incident- ally, added not a little to the gratification of ownership and the luxury of living. Wills and inventories of the period bear witness to the quantity and variety of silver plate possessed by well-to-do colonists and by those whose estate was not reckoned of any great consequence. The specimens of early American silver, of unques- tionably authentic Colonial make, are usually so ex- cellent in design and workmanship, regardless of the particular locality in which they were produced, that we may conclude, not unreasonably, that the majority of American craftsmen were quite the equals of their British cousins in manual skill and masterv of design. The high quality of the American silver has been re- sponsible for a good deal of it, in time past, being attributed to an English origin by people who have not taken the pains to examine the marks and properly identify its source. A thorough examination and in- ventory of the old silver plate in America, both domestic and ecclesiastical, would probably show that much of it that popular tradition has ascribed to a British source is really of American fabrication. It is even not impos- sible that many a proudly treasured piece, which time- honoured tradition and a fine fancv for romance have invested with the glamour of an English origin, supply- ing circumstantial details of its being fetched overseas to the new land among the effects of a revered ancestor, might turn out, upon close inspection, to have been made in New York, Philadelphia, or Boston. Tradition 106 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS is a most valuable handmaid to history, but she is only a hanclmaid and must not be regarded as the ultimate mistress. That tradition, especially tradition fondly flattering to family pride, cannot always be accepted with implicit confidence one may judge from the follow- ing instance. Plenty of similar instances might readily be adduced. The writers were invited, upon one occa- sion, by an acquaintance, to come and see an exception- ally fine sideboard which, so the informant positively averred, had been in his wife 's family for two hundred years to his certain knowledge and perhaps longer. Upon examination, the two-hundred-year-old sideboard, instead of being a Stuart buffet or a Queen Anne dresser, as one might reasonably have expected it would be from the date assigned, turned out to be a particu- larly good Hepplewhite piece of American manufacture that could not possibly have been made before 1780 and was probably not made until some years later. This little incident serves to show how wary one must be in accepting tradition. The proud possessor of the two-hundred-year-old sideboard had no desire to deceive. He honestly believed the mass of inaccurate tradition that had gradually accumulated in his wife 's family anent the piece in question. Absolute, incontro- vertible facts are the only sure things to rely upon, and absolute facts we fortunately have in old silver to a greater degree than is the case with any other sort of antiques. English pieces are distinctly marked and bear exact evidence of their place of origin and date of manufacture. American pieces, while usually bearing the maker's mark or name, have no date letter, such as appears on English silver. Their age, therefore, can be fixed only approximately, either by knowing the SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 107 years between which the silversmith worked or else, in default of such specific knowledge or in the total absence of maker 's name or mark — a circumstance by no means uncommon — by the contour, which affords a fairly accurate index to date, for there was a regular evolu- tion and development of silver styles that can be traced throughout the w^iole period under consideration. While we have a trustworthy record of the names of many seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and early nineteenth- century silversmiths, the dates of their manufacturing activity, the marks they used, and the places where they worked, it also happens that the list is unfortunately by no means complete ; that their dates are not definitely fixed, there being often only a single year with which it is possible to connect a smith's name; that the places in which they worked are not always surely known; finally, that not a few of the well-known smiths, and doubtless those less known as well, varied their marks from time to time as the fancy struck them, and that there is no fully exhaustive table so far compiled for the identification of all the marks employed. It still re- mains for some enterprising and enthusiastic collector or antiquary to bring the various lists to perfection. The lists given in this chapter are as full as the authors have been able to make them, and embody the sum of the results attained by R. T. Haines Ilalsey, Esq., Miss Florence V. Paull, of the Boston Museum of Art, J. IT. Buck, Esq., of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Dr. Edwin AtLee Barber, of the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art; the Honourable A. T. Clearwater, and others who have contributed such valuable results to the elucidation of all matters per- taining to early American silver and have done so much 108 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS to further appreciation of the labours of the Colonial and post-Colonial silversmitlis. What manner of men the American silversmiths of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were, how they pursued their calling and how their personalities counted in the life of the Colonies during the formative stage of our country's growth, we may gather from a brief review of the careers of a representative few who followed the mystery of St. Dunstan. Among the first to occur to mind in such connexion is the first American mint-master, John Hull. Born in England in 1624, he w^as brought to Boston in 1635, and his diary tells us that ''after a little keeping at school, I was taken to help my father plant corn, which I attended to for several years together, and then, by God's good hand, I fell to learning (by the help of my brother) and to practise the trade of Goldsmith. ' ' When the General Court of Massachusetts, in 1652, set up the first Amer- ican mint in Boston to coin shillings and their fractions, Hull was made mint master, as previously noted, and compensated for his services by being allowed to retain for himself one shilling out of every twenty. In this public work Hull associated with himself his friend Eobert Sanderson, probably his senior and mas- ter in craftsmanship and whom he seems also to have made his partner in his silversmithing business, and together, for thirty years, they supplied Massachusetts with shillings and smaller coinage from the little mint- house, sixteen feet square by ten feet high. After Hull's death, Sanderson continued the silversmith's business alone, and his pieces are stamped with his own in- dividual mark in distinction to the earlier work which bears the joint imprint of both Hull and Sanderson. SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 109 Hull soon amassed a most substantial fortune which was further increased by successful trading ventures to the West Indies. He was Town Treasurer in IGGO and Treasurer of the Colony in 1G7G, financing the Ship of State in stringent periods and acting in t'he general capacity of a banker. His daughter became the wife of Judge Sewall, whose diary is such a storehouse of in- formation regarding early New England life. Hull's own diary, * ' Penned down that I may be the more mind- ful of, and thankful for all God's Dispensation towards me," has been published by the Massachusetts His- torical Society and is highly interesting reading. In addition to filling the posts of Town Treasurer and Treasurer of the Colony, as just mentioned, Hull repre- sented the Town of Wenham in 1G68, and was for a long time actively associated with Boston's Artilleiy Com- pany — now the Ancient and Honourable Artillery Com- pany — serving as ensign in that early organisation for preparedness in 1663, lieutenant in 1664, and captain in 1671 and 1678. He was no less active in the affairs of the Church militant than in the affairs of the State militant, and was one of the prime movers in establish- ing the Old South Church. He was a man of broad education and, though not possessed of a college train- ing, w^as a student of the classics. His advice and counsel were sought and valued alike in matters of civic moment and personal concern. In short, he filled so important a place both in private life and in the public affairs of the community that he is unquestionably to be regarded as one of early Boston's most representa- tive citizens. He is buried in the Granary Burial Ground, in the midst of the pulsing life of the city whose infancy he served so faitlifuUy. no EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS In speaking of Boston's early silversmiths, another name that immediately suggests itself is that of Paul Revere, who, besides being a most skillful silver crafts- man, was an engraver, a painter, a cartoonist, a founder of brass, a manufacturer in several fields, an ardent patriot, and, to sum it all up briefly, Boston's general handy man who seemed able to do almost anything and, what was more, to do it well. Incidentally, he usually contrived to be well paid for what he did. It would be hard, indeed, to find any sort of activity into which Paul Revere did not enter at one time or another, but so much has been well written about him elsewhere, with due reference also to his father, who was a silversmith of no mean ability, that it is unnecessary to engage here in further details of a biographical nature. Suffice it for our present purpose to remind the reader of Revere 's prominence in the doings of Boston in his day. Among Boston's other early and notable silver- smiths mention must be made of Jeremiah Dummer (1645-1718), who learned his craft from Hull, to whom he was apprenticed as a lad, and, besides producing highly creditable work, '^ became an important person- age in the Colony, serving as non-commissioned officer in the Artillery, as Selectman, Justice of the Peace, Treasurer of the County, Judge of one of the Inferior Courts, and as one of the Council of Safety in 1689, at the time of the trouble with France." None of these honours was bestowed lightly nor without sufficient reason, and that Dummer filled them is conclusive evi- dence of his personal worth and of the esteem in which he was held by his fellow-citizens. He was weighty enough in ecclesiastical matters for Increase Mather to dedicate one of his discourses to him, and the following Beaker with characteristic Dutch Strapwork and Foliage Ornament. New York, Latter Part of Seventeenth Cen- tury. Mark indistinct so that Maker cannot beidentified Cup or Small Bowl of Oval Shape. Late Seventeenth Century. New York. Maker unidentified; Mark T. T. crowned in Shield Clearwater Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City Courtesy of the HonoiiniMc A. T. Clearwater, Kingston- on-iludaoD Pair of Forks by John Noyes (1674-1749). Mugs: 1, Formerly attributed to Cesar Ghiselin and so ascribed in tiie text. Since the book has gone to press investigation has proved attribution incorrect. Maker (G.G.) unidentified; 2, by John Dixwell (1680-1728); 3, Maker unknown; 4, Maker unknown (possibly Spanish) Forks, 1 and 2, Clearwater Collection, Boston Museum of Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City Courtesy of the Honourable A. T. Clearwater, Kingston-on-Hudson 3 and 4, Courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL HI obituary notice in the Boston News Letter of June 2, 1718, plainly attests the public regard entertained for his qualities; "On the 25th past, Departed this life Jeremiah Dummer, Esq., in the 73rd year of his Age, after a long retirement, under great infirmities of Age and Sickness, having served his country faithfully in several Publick Stations, and obtained of all that kn(nv him the Character of a Just, Virtuous, and Pious Man, and was Honourably Interr'd on Thursday last; He was Son to Richard Dummer, Esq. ; who was one of the first and principal settlers of the Massachusetts colony, and died at Newbury." Of Jeremiah Dummer 's two sons, AVilliam, the elder, became Lieutenant Governour and discharged the duties of Governour, in the absence of Governour Shute, from 1716 to 1728, and also in 1729, following the death of Governour Burnett, while the younger son, Jeremiah Dummer junior, likewise dis- tinguished himself in public life for a considerable period. John Cony (1G55-1722), the brother-in-law of Jeremiah Dummer, from whom it is likely he received his training in craftsmanship, was another silversmith well known for his excellent work and prominent in the civic life of his day. He it was who, almost beyond all question, engraved the plates for the first American paper money. Jolm Dixwell (1680-1725), a son of the regicide Colonel Jolm Dixwell, not only made excellent silver- ware, but was active in the life of his day and a deacon in the New North Church, which enjoyed the distinc- tion of being ''erected in 1714 by seventeen mechanics, 'unassisted by the more wealthy part of the community, except by their prayers and good wishes.' " John Edwards (1687-1743), represented by numerous admir- 112 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS able pieces, was a man of education above the average, conspicuous in public affairs, and of sufficiently prom- inent social position to be granted, by the Selectmen, the use of the tomb built by Governour Endicott as being the nearest of living kin to that worthy. He was a mem- ber of the Artillery Company and was, therefore, one of the fifteen or more early Boston silversmiths whose names appear on the rolls of that time-honoured organ- isation. Edward Winslow (1669-1753), at one time captain of the Artillery Company, was a notable figure both from the position of his family and also from the influence he exercised in civil and military affairs, serv- ing at one time or another as Tithingman, Constable, Overseer of the Poor, Sheriff of the Town, Colonel of the Boston Regiment, and Judge of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas. Andrew Tyler (1691-1741) had influential family connexions, married a sister of Sir William Pepperrell, and was a conspicuous figure in political affairs. An advertisement inserted by James Turner in the Boston Evening Post of June 24, 1745, gives some idea of the manifold activities pursued by the silversmiths of the period : "James Turner, Silversmith & Engraver, Near the Town House in Cornhill, Boston, Engraves all sorts of Copper Plates for the Rolling Press, all sorts of Stamps in Brass or Pewter for the common Printing Press, Coats of Arms, Crests, Cyphers, &c., on Gold, Silver, Steel, Copper, Brass or Pewter. He likewise makes Watch Faces, makes and cuts Seals in Gold, Silver, or Steel ; or makes Steel Faces for Seals, and sets them hand- somely in Gold or Silver. He cuts all sorts of Steel Stamps, Brass Rolls and Stamps for Sadlers and Book- binders and does all other sorts of work in Gold and Silver. All after the best and neatest manner, and at the most Reasonable Rates." SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 113 Turner was a silversmith of niucli repute, but, as the advertisement clearly indicates, he did not hesitate to engage in sundry other activities germane to his craft, and most of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century silversmiths doubtless did precisely the same thing. Not a few of them made jewellery as well as fashioning spoons and porringers, tankards and cans, and it seems to have been not an unusual thing for them to turn their hands to engraving. This was a natural line of ex- pansion, inasmuch as they made such frequent use of engraving for the embellishment of their finer pieces of silverware. Jeremiah Dummer printed the first paper money for Connecticut, ' ' and presumably engraved the plate ' ' from which it was made. One might go on almost indefinitely recounting bio- graphical data of Boston's early silversmiths who occu- pied prominent places in civic life, but the foregoing notice is sufficient for our purpose. In the post-Colonial period silversmithing in l^oston was largely concen- trated among members of the Burt, Ilurd. and Revere families. While Boston led in the immber and personal con- sequence of her silversmiths, there were other places in Massachusetts where excellent silverware was wrought at an early period. Am.ong them may be mentioned Salem, Hingham, Marblehead, Newburyport, Hull, Con- cord, Stockbridge, Milton, Plymouth, New Bedford, Braintree, Deerfield, Taunton, Dedham, Ashby, Natick, Ipswich, ]\Iedford, and Bolton. Charlestown and Box- bury, though at that time separate from Boston, were geographically so close that the several smiths who lived there may be counted in the Boston list. Elsewhere in New England, too, but especially in 8 114 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS Connecticut and Rhode Island, silversmiths were fairly numerous and seem to have produced a good deal of highly creditable ware. In Newport we find them at work in the neighbourhood of 1700 — Samuel Vernon (1683-1737) appears to have been the first; in Prov- idence, at a somewhat later date, Jabez Gorham worked at the craft, and his descendants carried the name on to its present connexion with a great modern business ; in Milf ord, Connecticut, Job Prince, who died in 1703 , was the first known to have worked in that colony. New Haven, Norwich, and Hartford could boast an honour- able list of silversmiths, but, besides these, there were others of their craft who worked at Killingworth, Nor- walk, Guilford, Waterbury, Preston, Goshen, Litchfield, Bridgeport, Stratford, Colchester, Canterbury, Middle- town, Farmington, Mansfield, Stonington, East Hart- ford, New London, Danbury, Windham, East Haddam', Hebron, Hampton, Cheshire, Durham, Enfield, Lyme, and several other small towns. Some of the Ehode Island and Connecticut silver- smiths, as, for instance, Major Jonathan Otis, of New- port, who died in 1791 — a skilful jeweller, too — or Cap- tain Robert Fairchild (1703-1794), of New Haven, were men of eminence and filled conspicuous roles in public affairs. Not a few of them volunteered for military service, especially in the War for Independence, and acquitted themselves so creditably that we hear of Cap- tain Phineas Bradley, Colonel Aner Bradley, Colonel Miles Beach, Captain Samuel Parmelee, and many more of official rank. It must be remembered, however, that there was not the same opulence in agricultural Con- necticut and Rhode Island as there was in the area of commercial concentration about Boston and the towns SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 115 nearby, and consequently there was not a sufficient de- mand for the silversmiths' services to keep them all continuously busy at their craft. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that not a few of them were obliged to carry on other trades as well to eke out a living. This one made clocks, that one did cabinet work, another kept a tavern and still another was a blacksmitli, so that it is no uncommon thing to discover the members of a semi-rural community calling upon the same sturdy yeoman to shoe their horses and fashion their teapots. These local silversmiths, despite their intennittent diversion to other pursuits, ''did most creditable work when occasion demanded, although, ' ' owing to the wont of persons of means to patronise, then as now, the craftsmen of Boston or New York for "articles of ex- ceptional quality and worth," "their products seem to have been distributed almost wholly in their o\\ti localities — one might indeed say among their fellow- townsmen. One never finds in Hartford the work of a New Haven smith, nor in New Haven the product of a man wdio was working in New London, except when recent migration carried the ware from home." The earlv silversmiths of New York, like their con- temporaries in New England, were often in the public eye and appear to have enjoyed the confidence and esteem of their fellow-citizens, if we may judge from the records of their activities in the service of the com- monweal. There w^as worthy old Ahasuerus Hendricks or Hendrickse, who came from Holland in the seven- teenth century and made "jewellery, rings, funeral spoons, and beakers, and, as well, fashioned the silver spears, pikes, and sword hilts affected by the mili- tant burghers" of New York. His name appears on 116 EARLY x^MERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS the list of those swearing allegiance to the King in 1675 ; in 1686 he was commissioned to assist in better- ing the city supply of drinking water; in 1687 he became constable for the North ward; between 1675 and 1693 his name is often entered in the records of the Dutch Eeformed Church ''as a witness to the baptisms of the children of many well-known families ' ' ; in 1689 the city settled his voucher, along with the vouchers of Johannes Kip and Tennis DeKay, for "Sundry to y'' poore & Ace",'' so that, besides ful- filling various other benevolent functions, he was evi- dently charged with a share in the oversight of the needy inhabitants of the city. Carol van Brugh was likewise a personage of weight and also a picturesque character in seventeenth-century Manhattan. He it was who "made the gold cup presented to Governour Fletcher in 1693, the bullion for which was purchased for one hundred and six pounds sterling and turned over to Vanderburgh [van Brugh] to fashion," the Council i3roviding ' ' that the revenue from the ferry be used for no other purpose until the bill for this was paid." The HugTienot Bartholomew LeRoux, first of the noted New York silversmiths of that name, was actively concerned in behalf of the people's cause at the time of the Leisler Rebellion in 1689. Of the two Boelens, Jacob and Hendrik, father and son, who came from Holland soon after 1680, and did a thriving busi- ness, the elder figured conspicuously in matters of the city 's concerns, as may be seen by glancing at a list of some of the positions of responsibility entrusted to him : he was nine years assessor for the North ward ; he was sometime brant master, by appointment of the Council, which also ordered that "five Ladders be made to serve SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 117 upon occasion of Fyrc, with suffieioiit hooks thereto"; in 1693 he was one of the special assessors detailed "to assess & rate the inhabitants Residence & Freeholders (the) 1725 proportion for the City for liaising £GUO() for payment 300 volunteers to reinforce the Frontiers at Albany May 1693-4" ; he was made alderman for the North ward in 1695 and 1697; lie served on the com- mittee for choosing a site and finding ways and means for erecting the new City Hall ; he was among the p(^ti- tioners for the restoration of the bolting monopoly, and in other ways, also, bore his share of the city's corporate responsibilities — a record surely ample to attest the public confidence reposed in his integrity and jud.gment. Jacobus Van der Spiegel, of American birth and of a family "long prominent in social life," was an ensign in Captain Walter's company, sent to Albany in 1689 "to protect the northern frontier against the impending French invasion," later held a captain's commission and, in 1698, "was elected to the highly honourable position of constable. ' ' Garrett Onclebagh, who served several successive aldermanic terms, and Cornelius Kierstede or Kierstead, wlio wrought first in New York and afterwards in New Haven, whither he removed about 1722, having some interest in a copper jnining project in the Blue Hills district, were both men of local note and of influential family connexions and may be regarded as representative of the New York silver- smiths of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. To the list of silversmiths already given one might add the names of various members of the Van Dvck, LeKoux, and other families of Dutch or Huguenot extraction, besides many more of English blood, who became in- creasingly numerous as the eighteenth century wore on. 118 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS all of whom were eminently substantial citizens and time and again appointed or elected to posts of influence and trust. Albany, too, may claim a respectable list of silversmiths who worked during the latter part of the eighteenth century and the fore part of the nineteenth, while Utica, Kingston-on-Hudson, and other places must be remembered also. In the Middle Colonies, that is to say, in Pennsyl- vania and New Jersey, we find admirable traditions of silversmithing established almost at the very begin- nings of colonisation and that the silversmiths were men of repute amongst their neighbours. At the head of the list are Cesar Ghiselin, the Huguenot, and Philip Syng the elder, both of whom plied their craft while Penn's Colony was still in swaddling clothes and both of whom left enduring witnesses to their skillful crafts- manship in a part of the silver belonging to Christ Church, witnesses that would entitle them to high rank in their calling even if there were no other extant evi- dences of their handiwork to attest their prowess. Ghiselin 's beaker and plate, the gift to Christ Church of "Margaret Tresse, spinstor," are shown in one of the illustrations as also are the flagon and the great baptismal bowl made by Philip Syng the elder and presented to Christ Church, in 1712, by that excellent but tempestuous gentleman. Colonel Robert Quarry. Ghiselin occupied a respected position in the com- munity, and numerous descendants, in the female line, are to be found among those bearing honoured names in the city annals. Philip Syng was more conspicuous in the life of the infant city than was Ghiselin, had influential con- nexions by blood and marriage and left issue whose 5 o - ^ ^ A H } i 3 u 5^ I? -■ 3 _ o OH c '^ 3!i: t; - 3 ■-: 1 , .'^ugar Tongs, unmarked, c. 1730; 2, I'orrinjier liv Samuel \'ernon (1GS3-1737) ; 3, Porringer by William Cowell (1682-1736); 4, Porringer by John Cony (1655-1722); 5, Candlestick, Baluster Stem and Moulded Base; Marked B. M. (unidentified) c. 1745; 6, Porringer by Adrian Bancker (1703-1761). Clearwater Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City Courtesy of the Honourable A. T. Clearwater, KingstOn-on-Hudson SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 119 widespread ramifications may easily be traced to-day in the ''genealogical centre of the universe." He was succeeded in business by his son, Philip Syng the younger, who, in 1752, made for the Assembly of Penn- sylvania the tray, ink-pot, quill holder and sand shaker (shown in one of the illustrations), afterwards used in signing both the Declaration of Independence and, eleven years later, the Constitution of the United States, and still carefully preserved among the treasures of the State House. To name but one more, although there are many others no less deserving of extended biographical men- tion, there was Joseph Anthony (1762-1814) of prom- inent connexions and cousin to Gilbert Stuart, who owed his training abroad and his successful start in life as a portrait painter to the generosity of Anthony's father, a Philadelphia merchant. While mentioning Anthony 's excellent silverwork, one would willingly go on and speak at length of William Vilant and Ellias Boudinot, of Lownes and Richardson, of Shoemaker and Williamson, of Anthony Rasch and Nicholas Coleman and a long list of other Philadelphia and New Jersey silversmiths who adorned their craft and served their several communities and country; one would also gladly chronicle somewhat of the smiths who, though fewer in number, wrought in Virginia and also in Annapolis and, late in the eighteenth century, in Baltimore, but our purpose has been sufficiently fulfilled in calling atten- tion to two things — first, what manner of men the Colonial silversmiths were and, second, how goodly a company of them, during the Colonial period and the immediately post-Colonial period, plied their calling. In his admirable volume, "The Old Silver of 120 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS American Cliurclies," E. Alfred Jones notes tlie fact that, "of the 2000 odd pieces of ecclesiastical silver," therein described by him, ' ' of manufacture anterior to 1825," about 1640 were made by American silver- smiths. He also notes that '*in the late seventeenth century and down to the year 1800, over one hundred and seventy silversmiths were at work in the city of New York." If this was true of a relatively small place, it is plain to be seen how great must have been the aggregate when the larger, wealthier and alto- gether more important centres like Philadelphia and Boston were taken into account. A conservative esti- mate of the smiths coming within our purview might readily give their number as 500 or even more. It is manifestly evident, therefore, that it is well worth while for the collector and the connoisseur to be keenly on the lookout for the many specimens of their work that still remain. PROCESSES American silver of the Colonial and post-Colonial periods was a product in whose making the cunning of the artificer 's hand and his conception of form were the factors of paramount importance, while the hard, per- functory element of mechanical exactitude figured scarcely at all. To this intimate manual connexion between the craftsman and the wares he fashioned are to be in great measure attributed the flexibility, vigour, and freshness of design and also the subtly individual diversities of form characteristic of the early silver, hardly any two pieces ever being exactly the same. Tradition, too, was a powerful agent for the good- ness of both pattern and workmanship. The appren- SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIAvSTICAL 121 tice system was in full force, and a lad, whose parents were minded that he should follow the silversmith's craft, left the parental roof at the age of twelve or thereabouts and went to live with his master. The mysteries of silver working thenceforward became a part of his daily life, a part of the very atmosphere in which he had his being. A feeling for the metal, the forms into which it was meet to be worked and the methods of decoration to be employed thereon, became ingrained in his very nature. Small w^onder, then, when he had faithfully fulfilled the years of his apprentice- ship, that he should be well able to practise worthily the sound tradition of craftsmanship he had imbibed. In this respect the old smiths had a vast advantage over their modern successors, who must, perforce, learn all they know in a brief space of training, and that after their most impressionable years are past. The texture of the metal is another reason for the great beauty of old silver, and this texture was due to the method of working it wholly by hand. Compare a piece of modem silver, no matter how excellent its make, with a good piece of the old work, and the su- perior beauty of the metal surface in the latter is at once apparent. The modern metal, rolled out before working under heavy mechanical pressure, has all the life crushed out of it, and no amount of subsequent working by hand can take away its hardness of aspect and impart to it the soft, lustrous, mellow appearance of the old metal that was discretely alloyed, annealed, and wrought by hand from the moment the molten coin was run into ingots from the melting-pot. Even the conscientious modern craftsworker can do no more to produce texture than dent the surface with hammer 122 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS marks, unless he resorts wholly to the methods of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century smiths. This will necessarily increase the cost of his product, and there are few wlro are willing to pay the price. The texture of old silver is comparable in a way to the patina of old furniture, at least so far as its charm is concerned ; but patina on wood is largely a surface matter and may be cleverly simulated if the "antiquer" is expert enough and willing to take the pains. The texture of silver, on the contrary, is more than skin deep, and can be arrived at only by fundamental processes. The workshops, in which many of the early silver- smiths produced their rarely beautiful wares, were in- significant little structures, oftentimes not as large as the country roadside smithies where one may still see a farrier shoeing horses from the neighbouring farms. When John Hull and Robert Sanderson wrought drink- ing vessels, church silver services and domestic table- ware and supplied the Commonwealth of Massachusetts with ''pine tree" shillings and smaller coinage in a little mint house * ' sixteen feet square by ten feet high, ' ' one can readily understand the entry in Judge Sewall 's diary, under date of June 21, 1707, anent the silver- smith William Cowell, that "Billy Cowell's shop is entered by the chimney and a considerable quantity of plate was stolen. ' ' Some knowledge of how the metal was manipulated from its ingot stage to its finished shape will contribute to our appreciation of a precious heritage of handiwork fit for modern emulation. Such knowledge we may gather from an inventory of tlie tools belonging to John Burt of Boston, who died in 1745, and from the lucid explanatory comment thereon by E. T. Haines SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 123 Halsey, Esq., to whom we are indebted for so much valuable work for the preservation, study and ap- preciation of early American silver. Inventory of John Burt 31G oz 4 pwt of Silver @ 3G/ p oz £500.3/ Gold 18 oz 12 pwt @ £27 p oz £500.17/ 1070 Cash £100—33 oz of Correll (a 20 pr oz. £33 133 5 pair of stone eaiings & 3 sett of stone buttons £30 a parcell of old stones £7 37 a parcell of Christalls for Buttons & Earings 32 a parcell of old stone work 5 2 .Show Glasses .£5.0/53 pair of Cliapes & tongs £10 .2/ .., 15 2 11 Files, 3.3/ a pair of large and small bellows 40/ 3 13 a large Forgin Anvil ]-20 Id @ 2/ p £15 — ^1 small do £!) 24 9 raising Anvils 217 Id @ .3/ p Id £37 .10 .0 .2 planishing Teaster 39 Id @ 3/6 £6 16 .0 44 10 2 Spoon Teaster £20 — 2 planishing ditto 25/3 bencli vises £12 39 5 9 small vises 4.5/ 2' beak irons 20/ 40 hammers @ 8/ pr hammer 18 .10 .10 22 1 2 Melting Skillets £5 . 37 bottom stakes & punches 155 @ 4/ £31 36 a Drawing bench & tongs 40/ 11 Drawing Irons £11 10 pair of shears £6 19 2 brass Hollowin stamps £5 . a pair of brass Salt punches 30/ 6 10 1 Tliimble stamp £4 . 10/ pr of llasks for casting £4 .10 9 15 pair of tonj^s & plyers @ .5/ a pr. 75/ a pair of large scales and weights £8 11 15 4 pair of small scales & weights 40/ pewter and lead moulds 85 Id @ 1/0 £6 .7 .0 8 7 36 old files, 18/ 12 strainers 12/ 1 Oyl Stove 25, 3 sniall saws 25 4 4 boreax boxes .5/ 3 burnishers 20/ 1 Triblet 10 2/ boiling pans 60/ 4 15 a parcell of punches £o, 1 Touch Stone 5/ 5 5 124 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS Mr. Halsey says : " I'lie inventory of the tools, wliich belonged to John Burt, gives between its lines the metliod of fashioning employed by the Colonial silversmith. First, the bullion was melted and refined in the hoiling-pans, the fineness of the alloy tested by rubbing on a touch- stone, and the resultant streak compared with a streak obtained from silver of known quality. The metal was then remelted and run into a skillet and came out in a rectangular form, tliinner than an ingot. In tlio making of hollow-ware the form thus obtained was rolled out, or hammered on the Forgin Anvil into a sheet of the requisite thickness. In the fashioning of a cup, a circle was cut with saws or shears from this sheet of silver; the diameter of this is somewhat larger than tlie con- tour of the vessel desired. This circular sheet was gently hammered with frequent annealings, over a teaster, until it took the form of a bowl, which was then gradually hammered over the various raising anvils and bellying anvils into the form finally desired. For work on the interior of the vessel, the heak irons (anvils with long beaks or horns, adapted to reach the interior surface of hollow-ware) were used. In shaping the vessel much use was made of stakes (small movable anvils of various sizes and shapes, which stood upon small iron feet on the work-bench). The brilliant facets, which covered the surface of all of our early silver, were obtained by lightly and skilfully beating the surface of the sha])ed vessel with hammers over the planishing anvil, both hammer-head and anvil being highly polished. The strips employed for rims, handles, and bases were made on the drau-ing hench — an apparatus in which the strip of metal is brought to an exact thickness and width by being drawn tlirough a gaged opening made by two cylinders fastened at the required distance apart and prevented from rotating. Handles, finials, thumb-pieces, tips and in some cases spouts, were often cast in pewter or lead tnoulds, or more frequently by the old wax process in which the forms sought were first cast in wax. and then were embedded in moistened casting-sand contained in casting -flasks. This sand was then pounded into an almost solid mass and the flasks were pixt into the fire, the melted wax run off and replaced by molten silver ; the rough castings thus obtained were then finished tip with sairs, punches and files. The casting was then placed on a pitch-block and the surface finished with punches. De- fects in the casting were made good by soldering in and annealing solid pieces of metal, and chasing the surface. The spoons, as a rule, were cut or stamped out of thin sheets of metal, and bowls shaped over a teaster and planished over a planishing spoon-teastcr. i^alts and thimldes were punched out or stamped from thin sheets of metal. The tnses, horeax-hoxes, and oyl stove were used in the process of soldering on the bases, handles, rims, etc." 1 TOP AND BOTTOM OF PATCH BOX, EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, UN- MARKED. TOP OF PATCH BOX BY JOHN WINDOVER, 1694-1726, MARKED I W (IN OVAL). TEAPOT AND STAND BY PAUL REVERE Clearwater Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City Courtesy of the Honourable A. T. Clearwater, Kingston-on-Hudson SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 125 From this minute description of the purpose and manner of using each of the sundry tools in the silver- smith 's outfit one may form an accurate idea of the jDrocesses followed in manufacturing the silverware of Colonial days. Briefly epitomised, one may say that the processes engaged in included rolling the metal into thin sheets and beating it into the required shapes upon anvils; mounting these articles, when shaped, upon pitch or cement and applying decorative patterns witli punches or else chasing the surface ; casting in moulds and finishing by filing or chasing or, in the case of cir- cular objects, on a lathe; at a later period ''spinning" hollow- ware over a rapidly revolving mould ; soldering or riveting the several pieces together when finished; the impressing of ornaments with a roller or striking them from dies and then applying them to the part to be decorated. ARTICLES MADE Articles of silverware made by early American silversmiths may be broadly classified as Domestic and Ecclesiastical. Domestic silver may be subdivided, ac- cording to its uses, as follows: (1) Silver for Eating and Small Table Accessories; (2) Silver for Drinking Purposes; (.'>) Silver for Containing or Pouring; and, finally, (4) Silver for Miscellaneous Tal)le, Household, and l*ersonal Uses. Silver for Eating and S:mall Table Acce8S(.)Uies. Spoons, marrow spoons, forks, knives (the handles), porringers, plates, platters, salt cellars, muffineers, pepper shakers, nutmeg graters, chafing dishes or brasiers, saucepans, sauce-boats, sugar tongs, trays, apple corers, casters, cruet stands, and coasters. Silver for Drinking Purposes. Cans, cups, stand- 126 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS ing cups, goblets, caudle cups, loving cups with two and three handles, mugs, tankards, beakers, flip straws, tumblers, wdne tasters. Silver for Containing or Pouring. Bowls, baskets, boxes, coffee-pots, pitchers, creamers or cream jugs, chocolate pots, sugar bowls, tea-caddies, spout cups, strainers, flagons, teapots, urns, cruets, syphons, funnels, and punch ladles. Silver for Miscellaneous Table, Household, and Personal Uses. Buckles, thimbles, sconces, candle snuffers, candlesticks, snuff'-boxes, patch boxes, sword hilts, whistles, wine labels, trays. Besides the above, other special pieces for sundry purposes occasionally come to light. Ecclesiastical Silver included chalices, patens, flagons, beakers, cups, alms basons, collection plates, and baptismal bowls and basons. CONTOUR It has been found expedient to make a somewhat arbitrary division of American silver of the Colonial and post-Colonial periods into four chronological classi- fications. This division, nevertheless, seems warranted by certain general groups of characteristic contours that coincide pretty nearly with the classifications, so that the method resorted to is justified by actual facts. The chief reason for making such a division, besides the convenience thus gained for classification and reference, was to direct attention to the striking parallelisms of contour and type of decorative design observable between the silver, furniture,^ and architecture ^ of any ^v. "Practical Book of Period Furniture''; Eberlein and McClure. ' V. " The Architecture of Colonial America " ; Eberlein : Little, Brown & Co. SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 127 given perio(L These noteworthy instances of similarity, while doubtless partly attributable to fashion, seem to have been mainly due to a widely diffused and dominant conception of line prevalent among artists and crafts- men of contemporary date. For the sake of example, attention may be directed to the rotund, swelling curves and much-shaped con- tours in evidence during the latter part of the seven- teenth century and the early years of the eighteenth, in the reigns of William and Mary and of Queen Anne. In architecture the profiles of mouldings displayed lines swelling into impressive rotundity ; the panel heads of doors were shaped and curved; the bases of balusters on the stair had rotund curving contours closely resem- bling the forms of contemporary globular or globular and cupolaed teapots; hoods above house-doors were arched and coved, sometimes enriched with carving in the cockle-shell motif, and supported on shaped brackets ; pediments over doorways were often curved in arcs, and, in a dozen other ways, a tendency toward well-rounded lines was abundantly manifest. In furniture we see the prevalence of the cabriole leg; chair seats were rounded at the corners and in front; backs were spooned; the double-hooded motif was common both in cabinet work and settee backs, while panels and mirror frames echoed the same swelling curves. In silver of the period there is visible a striking cor- respondence to the foregoing contour characteristics, especially in teapots, tankards, porringers, and cups, which the reader may easily discern by looking at the illustrations, particularly those in the chronological key 128 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS at the beginning of the chapter. The shapes are instinct with elegance, but it is a rotund, Dutch elegance. Again, in the Adam period of the latter part of the eighteenth century, the oval and the parabolic curve were in high favour and fashion. In architecture we see the oval in the shape of rooms and in various forms of applied decoration. Close akin to the oval is the oft- recurring urn motif, either as a flat decoration or as a modelled form. In furniture we see half-oval-topped side tables and consoles, oval chair backs and a numerous display of kindred ovals and of urn-shaped finials. One point, however, should be remembered in this connexion, respecting both architecture and furniture — although curved lines appeared in structural work as an occasional variant to the dominant rectilinear features, they were not lines of structural support, save in the case of chair backs, but were purely decorative in function. Barring this occasional exception and the fashioning of urns and vases, lines in a per- pendicular plane w^ere not curved or shaped, and the shaped lines occurred in a horizontal plane. The types of decorative detail common to architecture and furni- ture included the familiar swags and drops, pendent husks, round and oval paterae, oval and spandrel fans, sundry vase and urn shapes and similar motifs which it is not necessary to enumerate in full. Turning to the silver of the period, we find precisely the same principles of design in fashion, with only occasional and insignificant modifications. To verify this statement, the reader is again referred to the illus- trations, and especially to the Revere teapot, which is a silver embodiment of the contemporary Adam spirit SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 129 both in its contour and in point of engraved surface ornamentation. No end will be served by multiplying instances of parallelisms ; they are sufficiently obvious to be readily discerned in the other periods also. This series of correspondences between silver, furni- ture, and architecture cannot be regarded as the result of purely fortuitous happening. It has a definite mean- ing for us, and, if it shows anything at all, it proves the close kinship existing between architecture and the dec- orative arts and it emphasises the necessity of becom- ing reasonably familiar with all the art and craft manifestations of a period if we would fully understand any one of them, for none of them stood alone, but each bore some relation to the others and was, in turn, influenced by them. Inasmuch as the majority of early American silver- smiths were of either British birth and training or of British descent, we naturally expect to find in their handiwork a perpetuation of British methods and a loyal adherence to English types of design, progressing almost contemporaneously — new styles were generally just a few years later in making their appearance in America than in England — with the march of fashions in the Mother-Couutrv. The close adherence to English design w^as not only a matter of tradition, but also a matter of preference, ''for the Colonials gloried in the name of Englishmen, and loved the customs of the old country," which they followed with punctilious and affectionate exactitude, a point of view that persisted even after the Revolution, for Washington and his fel- low-founders of our government, fully realising the oneness of our blood with that of the parent stock, regarded themselves as Englishmen — American Eng- 9 130 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS lishmen, to be sure — till their dying day, and would have repelled indignantly any insinuation to the con- trary. American silver, it is true, was, as a rule, simpler than much of contemporary English make, and, in a few cases, minor modifications, some of which were of purely local occurrence, w^ere made by the Colonial smiths, but in the main the resemblance was so strong as to amount to virtual identity. Only one other influence, beside the English, in the design of American silver has to be seriously con- sidered, and that is the Dutch, which was, of course, strongest in New York and was never more than local, being confined to the sections of the country adjacent to, and in close and constant contact with, Manhattan. The design of both English and American silver was subject in certain respects to an influence exerted by contemporary porcelain and pottery, wliicli seem to have suggested contours to the silver craftsmen, who were no more averse to taking a cue, now and then^ from Oriental sources than were the designers of fur- niture or the weavers of textiles. This ceramic in- fluence may be especially traced in some of the teapots and bowls. One can easily see the resemblance to porce- lain contours in such silver objects as the little covered bowl (Key II, 11), very like a china bouillon cup, or the globular teapot (Key I, 4). The divisions adopted for the chronological key which seem best to exemplify and bear out the corre- spondences to which attention has been called are as follows: (I) Late Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Century (synchronous with the late Stuart, William and Mary and Queen Anne forms in furniture and archi- tecture) ; (II) Middle Eighteenth Century (synchron- SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 131 ous with Early Georgian forms) ; (III) Late Eighteenth Century (sjTichronous with late Georgian, especially Adam forms) ; (IV) Early Nineteenth Centurj^ (syn- chronous with Empire forms in furniture and Classic Revival forms in architecture). SILVER FOR EATING AND SMALL TABLE ACCESSORIES Spoons typical of the 1st division (Key I, 1), the latter part of the seventeenth century, had oval or elliptical bowls, instead of fig-shaped bowls, as did the English spoons of an earlier date. The stem was flat, instead of round or hexagonal, as previously; the end of the handle was flattened, broad, and notched by two' clefts to make three points or projections, somewhat in the manner of a trefoil ; the end of this trifid handle was also turned up. The junction of the handle or stem with the bowl was continued and reinforced by a tongue or grooved *' rat-tail" on the back or convex surface of the bowl (Key I, 2). This trifid form of spoon is some- times known as the ** hind's foot and rat-tail" pattern, and continued to be made into the early years of the eighteenth century (till about 1730). In the forms typical of the 2d division we find, from about 1725 to 1750, the rat-tail extending down the back of the bowl, well defined, but without grooves (Key II, 7). It is an extension of the drop which reinforces the junction of the handle and bowl and is now more pro- nounced than formerly. The bowl itself is more egg- shaped and tapering towards the end. The end of the handle, instead of being notched or trifid, is rounded and turned up. The stem is no longer flat, but rounded, at least in front, near the bowl (Key II, 6), and the rounded and turned-up end is marked by a prominent 132 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS mid-rib (Key II, 6). From about 1750 to 1770, while the moulded drop at junction of handle and bowl was the essential method of reinforcement, and often more pronounced and longer than in earlier spoons (Key II, 3), a decorative device w^as sometimes added on the bottom of the bowl, such as the cockle-shell on the Revere spoon (Key II, 5) and the small spoon (Key II, 2). The end of the handle is still turned up (Key II, 1 and 4) , and the mid-rib on the front is much less con- spicuous, almost disappearing in some cases (Key II, 1). In spoons of the 3d division, from about 1760 to 1800, one sigiiificant change is that the rounded ends of the handles are turned down (Key III, 1-8). The moulded drop at junction of bowl and handle, w^hile dis- tinctly in evidence, does not usually extend so far down the bowl as in previous examples. Scroll embellish- ments, as on the Revere spoon (Key III, 8), cockle- shells (Key III, 6), birds, or floral subjects were some- times added at the termination of the drop. The front of the handle and stem often became a subject for elaborate ornamentation in ''bright-cut" engraving from the end to the bowl (Key III, 7) in a pattern of essentially Adam provenance (Key III, 7 and 3). From about 1780 to 1800 the handles became lighter and the ends were more pointed (Key III, 1, 2, 3, and 4) than at an earlier date. Throughout this division bowls tended to become more tapering toward the end. In spoons of the 4th division, from about 1800 to 1815, the ends continue turned down and are frequently of the shape known as ''coffin-headed" (Key IV, 1, 2, 3, and 4). The bowls are distinctly more pointed than previously. The pattern of the engraving on these SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 133 spoon-handles is still plainly reminiscent of Adam de- sign. The drop at the junction of handle and bowl is much flattened and less pronounced (Key IV, 1 and 3). From about 1810 onward, spoons of the ''fiddle- headed" pattern (Key IV, 5 and 6) came into vogue with a sharp, angular shoulder on each side of the stem just above the bowl (Key IV, 5 and G) . In some of these later spoons, all of which show a deterioration in design after 1815 or 1820, when the Adam influence had ceased to be an appreciable factor, the head of the handle is turned up (Key IV, 6), thus showing a reversion to an earlier custom, while in others it is turned down. Likewise, in numerous instances, the moulded drop at tlie junction of bowl and handle is omitted (Key IV, 5), but in others it persists. A comparison of the chronological key-plates will show that both types and individual characteristics per- sisted from one period to another, and that fashions overlapped to some extent, just as they did in furniture and architecture, so that it is impossible to say that this or that style began at such a date and ended at such another; but the stages of evolution are sufBciently defined to justify the assignment of the several dis- tinctive types to approximate periods of time, periods of w^liich one type was representative and numerically in the ascendant. Most of the spoons illustrated are of large size, about the size of our dessert-spoons or slightly larger, and many are the size of the largest modern table- spoons. This average is representative of the relative numbers in the Colonial period. Tea-spoons followed the styles of the larger spoons, but were not found 134 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS in any considerable number before the middle of the eighteenth century. Some notion of the disparity in sizes of both large and small spoons may be obtained by looking at Fig. 1. Tea-spoons were not of a standard size any more than were the large spoons. Many of the old tea-spoons are of smaller bowl and shorter Fig. 1. A, Table-spoon with "Bright Cut" engraving, by Underhill & Vernon, New Yoik,c. 1796. B, Spoon of Second Period, with "Rat Tail" and initials in back. C, Spoon of Second Period with Crest and initial engraved on back of handle. D, Small Tea-spoon of Third Period. E, Small Tea-spoon of Third Period with shell ornament on bowl. Courtesy Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. handle than the modern tea-spoon (Fig. 1, D and E), and we can well understand, in looking at their dimensions, how they could easily and without any suggestion of clumsiness be laid across the tops of the small, handle- SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 135 less tea-cups as an indication that one desired no more tea.^ Salt-spoons were fashioned like the larger spoons, except for their circular or wide bowls. Maerow-spoons began to be used about the beginning of the eighteenth century. The early forms had the ordinary bowl, while the handle was made into a long, narrow scoop. The later spoons of this sort had scoops at both ends, one of which was usually longer and narrower tlian the other. Forks, although common enough in the eighteenth century, have rarely survived the vicissitudes of time and usage. They became worn and damaged much more quickly and easily than spoons, and most of them, therefore, found their way back to the melting-pot. Some were wholly of silver, such as the pair by John Noyes (Boston, IGZ'J— 1749), now in the Boston Museum, wdiile others had only silver handles, the prongs or tines being of steel or other metal. The handles usually followed the handles of contemporary spoons in shape and manner of decoration. While the forks by Noyes had only two prongs, we find three-pronged forks be- 3" An amusing incident, illustrative of the customs of the time, oc- curred at the house of Urs. Robert :Morris upon the occasion of the Chevalier de la Luzerne taking the Prince de Broglie into that hos- pitable household. The Prince writes: 'Monsieur de la Luzerne con- ducted me to the house of Mrs. Morris to tea. I partook of most excellent tea, and I should be even now drinking it, I believe, if tlie Ambassador had not charitably notified me at the twelfth cup that I must put my spoon across it when I wished to finish with this sort of warm water. -He said to me: "It is almost as ill-bred to refuse a cup of tea when it is offered to you as it would be for the mistress of the house to propose a fresh one when the ceremony of the spoon has notified her that we no longer wish to partake of it." ' "— " Colonial Homes of Philadelphia and Its Neighbourhood," Eberlein and Lippincott. 136 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS fore the middle of the eighteenth century for Peter Faneuil with some ostentation ordered from England about 1738, ' ' one dozen silver forks with three prongs, with my arms cut upon them, made very neat and hand- some." Knives were occasionally made with silver handles, but they were rare, the majority having bone grasps. Butter knives were made, toward the end of the eight- eenth century, with both handle and blade of silver. PoRKiNGEEs, big and little, were much used during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but particu- larly during the early and middle portion of the latter, and so commonly performed the office of general utility vessels that it is well-nigh impossible to fix upon any one specific use for which they were intended. They are also known as ' ' wine tasters ' ' and ' ' bleeding cups, ' ' the latter in allusion to the leech's habitual practice of profuse bloodletting upon every possible occasion. Necessity has always been the mother of invention, and our Colonial forebears were much too inventive, re- sourceful, and practical to devote numerous silver and pewter vessels of this type solely to the requirements of the physician. If porringers were used in the opera- tion of bloodletting, it was because they were the handiest article that chance presented, and probably only a small proportion of them were ever so employed. Their customary use was, doubtless, on the table to hold jam, honey, or even vegetables, and the complete absence of sugar bowls of a very early date justifies one in supposing that they were also used to contain sugar. Upon this strong probability, a porringer (Key V, 12) has been placed as the first in a line of SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 137 clironologically arranged representative sugar bowls of early American make and use. The handles were of flat open-work in geometrical or tracery designs (Fig, 2, A) or else of the later ''key- hole" type, convenient for hanging from a hook on the dresser. The howls were of various dimensions and depths. Sometimes the sides were flaring (Fig. 2, B), sometimes they swelled out and returned inward near Fig. 2. A, Porringer, top view, by Richard Humphreys, Philadelphia, c. 1775; B, side view of same. C. Hartman Kuhn Collection. Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. the top. Both of these contour types are well shown in one of the accompanying plates. Plates and plattees, while usually made of pewter, were sometimes found of silver, in very limited num- bers, in the houses of the most wealthy. Although the Thomas Hancock plate, shown in one of the illustra- tions, was a piece of church silver, the same form was followed when no ecclesiastical use was intended. In other words, save for the difference in metal, silver 138 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS plates and platters were very like their fellows in pewter. Several reasons may be assigned for the com- parative scarcity of silver plates and platters. In the first place, a large percentage of them, where they did exist, were no doubt melted down during the financial stress of the Revolutionary era. A much commoner reason was that, by the time a large class of the colonists had reached sufficient affluence to be able to afford silver plates and platters, attention was directed rather to the importation of fine Oriental services for the equipment of the table. A third and last reason is that a very considerable number of the gentle-born and wealthier colonists, who were likely to possess such articles, were Loyalists, and their silver was either con- fiscated or else taken with them when they fled to Halifax or returned to England. Salts, like spoons, teapots, and several other articles, were strongly characteristic in design of the period of their manufacture. In the 1st division we have the circular salt with a broad flaring base to obviate the danger of upsetting, possibly a willing con- cession to the old superstition. The particular salt with the gadrooned base and gadrooned rim al the top, around the edge of the shallow well, shown in the illus- tration (Key I, 8), is one of a pair made in 1665, pre- sumably in New York, for Helena Willet, the daughter of Thomas Willet, the first English-speaking Mayor of New Y^ork. There is no maker's name nor mark. It is substantially the same as some of the better designed trencher salts, and may be considered as a link in the evolution from the ' ' standing salt, ' ' by whose place on the table the station of those sitting at the board was indicated, to the individual salt or the pairs of salts for SIU^R; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 139 the common benefit of family and guests. Salts of a similar pattern in pewter are not unusual. This type doubtless continued to be made till well into the first quarter of the eighteenth century. In the 2d division, salts of the pattern shown in Key II, 16 may be regarded as typical from about 1730 onward. The round bowl is supported on three cabriole legs with hoofs or hind's feet — an item of resemblance to certain chair legs of a not much earlier date. In the 3d division, — that is, during the latter part of the eighteenth century, — the prevailing taste for ovals and urn contours is evidenced in the characteristic example shown in Key III, 9. The contrast between this type, with its flaring top rising from a pedestal, a type beautiful but easily upset, and the staunch seven- teenth-century type of Key I, 8, possibly indicates some weakening of the superstition anent spilling salt. In the 4th division, the early nineteenth century, heavy glass salts were largely used, but those made of silver followed, in general, the oblong, swelling contours to be seen in so many of the tea-pots and sugar bowls of the period. Pepper Boxes appeared in the first half of the eight- eenth century. A common form was between three and four inches high, had octagonal or round barrel, straight sides, a moulded base, encircling moulded bands near the top and bottom, a thin scrolh^d handle and a perforated drum-like cover either with or with- out a finial. In exhibitions they are sometimes cata- logued as sugar sifters. As a matter of fact they would answer either purpose and were doubtless so used as inclination dictated. 140 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS Castees appeared about the middle of the eigh- teenth century and may be regarded as the ultimate development of the pepper box. If one preferred to use them as sugar sifters, they were practically analo- gous to the English muffineers. They were usually be- tween five and six inches high, had a splayed moulded foot, a shaped cylindrical body, tapering slightly to- ward the top and bellied prominently outward in bulbous fashion at the bottom, and a high domed cover or lid, perforated and surmounted by a finial. A slightly earlier form was not quite so tall ; had a larger pear- shaped moulded body and a low, convex perforated cap or cover without finial. Nutmeg Geaters, Apple Coeers, and various other similar pieces of small silver table accessories rarely appeared before the middle or latter part of the eighteenth century, and, in general, followed the more important pieces in the matter of contour and decoration. Ceuet Stands and Gtalleried Coasters likewise were comparatively late pieces of table service refinement for which it is useless to look much before the end of the eighteenth century. Chafing Dishes or Beasiees were made at an early date and continued to be made throughout the eighteenth century and the early part of the nineteenth. They displayed great elegance of pattern and beauty of workmanship. There was little significant change in details of contour or decoration, and the example shown in Fig. 3 will convey an adequate idea of the class. The handles were of wood. Saucepans with lids and spouts (Fig. 4), sides taper- ing outwards towards the top, and wooden handles were SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 141 made in considerable numbers during the eighteenth century. They were of elegant shape, but usually with- out decoration. Occasionally the sides were straight, at other times they swelled outward tow^ard the bottom. Sauce-boats, dating from the latter part of the eighteenth century, were somewhat similar to cream Fig. 3. Small Chafing Dish or Brasier by Pliilip Syng, the younger, Philadelphia, c. 17S0. C. Hartman Kuhn Collection. Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. pitchers in general contour, but had a longer body and wider spout. Trays of sundry shapes came into use about the third quarter of the eighteenth century, sometimes rest- FiG. 4. Saucepan by Joseph Richardson, Philadelphia, c. 179G. C, Hartman Kuhn Collection. Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. ing flat on the table and sometimes supported on legs {v. illustration of Revere tea-pot). The legs also fre- quently resembled those of salts or cream pitcliers (Key II, 12 and 16). They had raised rims, flaring edges or galleries, as the case might be, and were often ornately engraved. 142 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS Sugar Tongs came into use fairly early in the eight- eenth century. The pair shown in the illustration dates from about 1730. This ''scissors" type, with its grace- ful scrolls, was cast and then filed, and the plates cover- ing the pivot were sometimes beautifully engraved. The later types, belonging to the latter part of the eighteenth century and the early part of the nineteenth, were generally in the form of tongs and made from a single piece of metal, bent into proper shape, with nip- per ends for grasping the lump of sugar. In contour and decoration they resembled the other characteristic pieces of contemporary date. Cake Baskets were made late in the eighteenth cen- tury and continued in favour during the succeeding period. They corresponded with the general style of the other contemporary silver and were usually fretted and also elaborately chased or engraved. In shape they were usually round or oval with a handle in the manner of a basket and ordinarily stood on a slightly raised base. In some cases they were designed with a raised base or pedestal but lacked the handle. SILVER FOR DRINKING PURPOSES All the sundry drinking vessels of early American manufacture, by their great number and variety, bear eloquent witness to the universally prevalent bibulous habits of our forebears. They are found in every section of the country, and the contours of the several mem- bers of the group show an evolution comparable to that in other articles, but no appreciable diminu- tion in numbers during the period with which we are concerned. IIOLVUKK Ali.M?;; lOXAMI'LLoI' Ili:i; A LDIC EXGKAN IXLl CLP OH BKAKKK HY SA.MIKI, DKOWXE, 174'.t-l.si5 KEPOL.-^SK AXD CHA.SED Clearwater Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Xew York Courtcsv of the Honourable A. T. Clearwater, Kingston-on- Hudson SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 143 Cans or Cups with Handles were virtually the same thing, and, if any distinction is to be drawn, it is that the term can is of early use and seems preferably to be applied to vessels of more generous capacity than the other appellation. Both varieties seem to have been evolved from the bowl with handles, a vessel seemingly used to drink from upon some occasions. Akin to the two- or even three-handled bowls were the large two- handled loving-cups with covers, belonging to the latter part of the seventeenth century and the early part of the eighteenth. The great loving-cup with cover and two handles, made by John Cony and presented to Harvard in 1701 by the Honourable William Stoughton, is an admirable example of this type, apparently the nearest relative of the can or cup. Cans or cups of the 1st chronological division, em- bracing the latter years of the seventeenth century and the fore part of the eighteenth, were of various heights and diameters, with either one or two thin, ear-shaped handles, moulded bases, and straight or nearly straight perpendicular sides with an outward flare at the top. This type (Key V, 3, and Key II, 14) continued to bo made during the first half of the eighteenth century. It "was especially in favour in New England. The two- handled type went out of fashion before its one-handled brother. A heavier handle, of the same pattern as the tankard handle or the handle of contemporary mugs {v. mug by Cesar Ghiselin in one of the plate illustra- tions), was also used at the same time. Cans or cups of the 2d division included both the type just described and also a barrel-shaped variety, encircled with hoops or bands {v. plate illustration of the can immediately beneath the mug by Ghiselin). 144 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS An exact technical distinction may be drawn between cups or cans and mugs by saying that the cup or can had a rounded bottom, stood upon a splayed, moulded or reeded base and had sides shaped either much or little — either a slight, beaker-like flare (Key II, 14) or a pro- nounced contour with pear-like bellying (Key V, 6 and 7). A mug, in the other hand, was derived from a tank- ard and its essential points of difference from its cup or can relative consisted in its having, beaker-like and tankard-like, a ^iat bottom with moulded base and Fig. 5. Can or Cup by Joseph Richardson, Philadelphia, 1796. C. Hartman Kuhn Collection. Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, straight sides, either tapering tankard-like toward the top or perpendicular (Key V, 1, 2 and 4). Mugs, to all practical intent, however, were identical w^ith cans or cups, except in point of their immediate tankard ancestry — they were really small, lidless tank- ards — whose straight sides, tapering inw^ard toward the top, and scroll handles they closely followed. They were made both w^ith bands (Key V, 1 and 2, and Ghiselin mug, plate illustration) and without bands. These were of the earliest type. A later banded type may be seen in Key II, 15. SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 145 From the middle of the eightenth century onward, mug and can types become so closely identified that a separate classification would only cause confusion. We find a variety with splayed and moulded base, a swell- ing, bulbous lower part, a shaped and outward curving upper part, and shaped scroll handle (Key V, 6 and 7) or a plain S handle (Fig. 5), w^hile later on, in the early nineteenth century, along with this type, which seems to have maintained its popularity, there is to be seen much the same form, though with less pronouncedly shaped sides, on a pedestal or baluster base (Key IV, 9) and, besides this, there was likewise a frequent re- version or approximation to a much earlier model, such as the examples shown in Key IV, 14 and 15. Beakers were tall, tumbler-shaped vessels whose form seems to have been derived from Holland. They w^ere never as popular as cans or mugs, and the ex- amples, therefore, are not so numerous as in the case of many other domestic articles. The simplest type was plain, with sides tapering towards the bottom, w^hich was flat. Frequently the upper part flared outwards. A moulding {v. plate illustration of Dutch beaker by unknown maker and Key I, 7) was next added, or a splayed moulded foot. There w^as also a form (accord- ing to the foregoing strict definition, a cup) with moulded foot and the lower part of the body gadrooned (Key I, 9). Occasionally an example is found with ornate embellishment, such as the beaker wdth acanthus base in high relief {v. plate illustration) and decorated band a little below the mouth. The Dutch beakers {v. plate illustration and Figs. 8 and 9) were much more apt to be ornately engraved than beakers by smiths of English descent and tradition. In contour, beakers re- 10 146 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS mained much the same, and some of the slightly differ- ing forms were made contemporaneously, so that it is not advisable to attempt to classify them in a chrono- logical contour sequence. The beaker may have a handle. Standing Cups and Goblets on baluster stems, with moulded foot, while sometimes made at an early date for domestic use, belonged rather to the very end of the eighteenth century and the first part of the nineteenth as articles of domestic appointment. The great ma- jority of early examples belonged to church sets and are, therefore, treated under Ecclesiastical Silver. Wine Tastees were very small, flat cups of por- ringer shape, sometimes with a scroll handle, at others with a flat handle like that of a porringer. The sides were either plain or gadrooned. They were not numerous. Tumblers were the same as small beakers. Caudle Cups were two-handled mugs or cups, of low stature and of swelling pear-like contour in the lower part. They belong especially to the last of the seven- teenth century and the first half of the eighteenth. Their characteristics closely resemble those of con- temporary mugs and cups. Flip Straws were long-stemmed tubes with enlarged ends for stirring flip, and were pieces of drinking para- phernalia found only in houses of wealthy Colonials who could afford to have all the small occasional appointments made of precious metal. Tankards were made and used from the beginning of the Colonial period to the early part of the nineteenth century, and display varying characteristics, according to the date of their manufacture. The tankards of the SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 147 seventeenth century and the fore part of the eighteenth, corresponding to the 1st chronological division, show a broad, flat base, straight, tapering sides, a flat top or lid, scroll purchase and S handle with plain whistle, shield-shaped end or tip. Sometimes the handle was reinforced by a rib down the side. The base had a moulding, and there was a moulded lip. This early typo was often embellished with a line of acanthus leaves or crockets above the base moulding and with moulded ornaments on the back of the handle, but such examples were usually pieces of a fairly late date in which the early contour had been retained (Key I, 5). A little later, a mid-band was added, or occasionally several bands ; the covers assumed the form of a swell- ing drum surmounted by a finial ; the whistle tip, instead of being plain, was frequently adorned with a decorated plate bearing a moulded cherub's head or some such device, and the back of the handle oftentimes became a subject for moulded decoration. This form, also, dates from the 1st chronological division, as attested by specimens made by John Cony (Key I, 6) and some contemporary smiths. It continued in fashion through the '2d chronological division and well into the 3d, as evidenced by tlie tankards produced by Paul Revere (Key III, 10). In the 3d division we also meet with tankards of shaped bod}^ (Key III, 12), a form that seems to have been carried over into the early part of the nineteenth century. Latterly we find a smaller tankard, belonging to the end of the eighteenth centuiy and the first years of the nineteenth, with straight, barrel-hooped sides and flat lid without finial ( r. Hamil- ton tankard in plato illustration). It may be noted that the type with mid-band, drum 148 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS top, and finial seems to have enjoyed special popularity in New England, while a form with plain sides (with- out mid-band) and top without finial apparently found general preference in New York, Connecticut, Phila- delphia, and the country within their sphere of influence. SILVER FOR CONTAINING OR POURING Of all the silver belonging to this category, no articles show a clearer and more characteristic chrono- logical progression of contour types than tea-pots. 1)1 considering them it is to be borne in mind that they show a disposition to increase in size as the eighteenth century advances. In the seventeenth century and dur- ing the early part of the eighteenth tea was an ex- pensive luxury, and this fact will account for the small dimensions of the earlier tea-pots. Tea-pots of the 1st chronological division are of bulbous or bell shape, with a high, domed lid sur- mounted by a moulded finial, making the general con- tour somewhat similar to that of a pear with the big end down, as in the example by John Cony (Key I, 3), or else they are globular, with a flat, rimless lid, sur- mounted by a finial, as in another example of nearly the same date (Key I, 4). The bulbous or bell-shaped tea- pots with domed lid had no foot, but stood flat, with merely a narrow and inconspicuous base mould to ter- minate the inward curve of the sides ; a short S-curved spout and a hooped or C-shaped wooden handle let into sockets soldered to the back. The globular tea-pots had a splayed moulded foot, an S-shaped or curved spout, but not turned so sharply upward ; and a curved or C-shaped wooden handle, usually with a thumb-piece or purchase at the top. A contemporary Dutch type SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 149 {v. tea-pot by Adrian Bancker in the plate illustration), made only in New York and the vicinity, was also bulb- ous or bell-sliaped, had a squat splayed foot, curved spout, and shaped wooden handle. The lower handle socket was more ornate, the lower part of the body was flatter and turnip-shaped, the narrow neck was longer and more sharply defined in contour than in the related tea-pots of English type, and the high, domed lid, as well as the bodv, was marked with moulded bands. In the plate illustration, the three types in the upper row afford interesting grounds of comparison and also sug- gest certain points of ceramic relationship. In the 2d division, towards the middle of the eight- eenth century, we find a pear-shaped tea-pot (the large end up) in fashion (Key II, 8 and Key V, 9). The base or foot is splayed and moulded ; the spout slightly S-curved and projecting well forward from the body; the small lid without rim, slightly drummed and sur- mounted by a pineapple or other finial, and a hooped or C-shaped wooden handle. In the 3d division, the epoch of Adam influence in design, tea-pots have oval-shaped bodies with straight or slightly curved sides, flat bottoms without moulding, straight spouts, C-shaped wooden handles and lids either flat or slightlv drummed and surmounted bv a pineapple or moulded silver finial, or, sometimes, an ivory, bone, or wooden finial (Key V, 10 and Key TIT, 14). Such tea-pots often stood on oval trays with feet, made especially for them. The oval body contour of these tea-pots was frequently broken into a succes- sion of small, concave, parabolic curves (Tvey TIT, 14, and also plate illustration of Revere tea-pot), and there were no mouldings at either base or top. Occasionally 150 EARLY A:\IERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS these oval tea-pots had dished or concave tops, the ends high and the middle low (c/. top line of sugar bowl, Key III, 16). A variation from the perj)endicular- sided, oval tea-pots of this period, retained the oval shape but had sides slightly swelling outward toward the middle. Still another variety of tea-pot that be- longed to this period was urn-shaped, stood on a ped- estal and had a curved spout. In the 4th division, under Empire influence, swelling curves again became fashionable. The tea-pots often stand on four ball feet (Key V, 11), and, while the sides are broken into curves, the general shape is either round or oblong (Key V, 11), the spout is curved and project- ing, the lid flat with a pineapple or moulded finial, and the handle C-shaped or scrolled (Key V, 11). The top is often dished or concave in contour with the ends higher than the middle (Key V, 11). Spout Cups, with covers and S-curved spouts, were made during the 1st and 2d divisions, and, in general contour, resembled the bell-shaped tea-pots, except that the spouts were at the side. Sugar Bowls, as vessels specifically made for hold- ing sugar, do not belong to our 1st chronological division. As it is highly probable that the porringer, the general utility vessel at that period, did duty for a sugar bowl, a porringer has been placed first in the chronological sequence of sugar bowls shown in Key V, 12, 13, 11-, 15 and 16. Vessels such as the engraved bowl, by an early but unknown maker, shown in the plate illus- tration below the engraved Dutch beaker, may also have served as sugar bowls. At this period there w^as no effort made to have complete tea sets of uniform pattern, such as those that came into use later in the eighteenth century. SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 151 In the 2d division, bowls of varied pattern, such as those shown in Key V, 13 and 14, were doubtless used for sugar and may, upon occasion, have served for other purposes, too. There were also standing, covered, pear- shaped bowls, similar to the contemporary pear-shaped tea-pots, made for sugar {v. sugar bowl by George Dowig in plate illustration). In the 3d division, when the elegancies of the late eighteenth century tea-table had become more highly organised, sugar bowls were made of a pattern to cor- respond closely with the tea-pot and its accompanying paraphernalia. Favourite types were in the form of urns with rising, shaped covers (Key V, 16), or of oval baskets with handles (Key V, 15). Dished or con- cave contours were common (Key V, 15). In the 4tli division the sugar bowl closely corre- sponded with its neighbour, the tea-pot. Common shapes were oblong, Avith ear-like handles at each end (Key IV, 11 and 13), round, and pear-shaped, rising from a moulded pedestal and surmounted with a rising shaped cover with a pineapple or moulded knob (v. plate illustration of sugar bowl with gadrooned base by George Dowig). The oblong sugar bowls with ear handles stood on four ball or knob feet (Key V, 11 and 13), and the tops, as were also the tops of many of the contemporary tea-pots, were dished or concaved in con- tour, with the ends high and the middle low (Key V, 13). Gadrooning (Key IV, 11) was a favourite method of ornamentation for sugar bowls, tea-pots, and other large pieces of hollow-ware. Cream Pitchers, as well-defined articles of specific purpose, make their appearance before the middle of the eighteenth century. There are ob^^ouslv numerous 152 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS points of similarity and contour correspondence be- tween the little, round-bellied cream pitchers with moulded and cast scroll handles, three cabriole legs with hoof or web feet, and shaped rims and spouts, on the one hand, and the contemporary three-legged salts, the brasiers, the pear-shaped tea-pots, and the cast sugar scissors, on the other. These cream pitchers had usu- ally a plain body, but occasionally (as in the left-hand example of the plate illustration of eight cream pitchers) engraving and chasing were added. These three-legged cream pitchers of the 2d chronological division (Key II, 12; Key V, 17, and Fig. 6, A) were supplemented by a second, nearly contemporary variety, supported on a stem or stand rising from a broad, circular foot (Key II, 13, and Key V, 18) with a cast scrolled handle. In cream pitchers of the 3d division we find more restraint and less rotundity of contour. Even where the shape of the contour has not been obviously inspired by classic models, refinement of line (Key V, 19, and the left- and right-hand specimens on the top row of the full-page plate of cream pitchers) was a dominant char- acteristic. The general form, in a horizontal plane, was oval or oval with concaved shapings (Key V, 19), and the contour line of the top was usually concaved. In a vertical plane we find elliptically curved lines. Some of the cream pitchers were polygonal, following a gen- eral oval outline. Another favourite form, besides the flat-bottomed types just mentioned, rose on a pedestal from a square base and continued upward in the man- ner of an urn (Key V, 20; Key III, 13, and Fig. 6, B). The handles of these cream pitchers were scrolled (Key III, 13), ear-shaped (Key V, 19), or straight-topped with descending curve (Fig. 6, B). SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 153 Cream pitchers of the 4th division coincided with the prevalent pompous and imposing contours of com- panion pieces. They were flat bottomed (Key IV, 12) and also had base mouldings (Key V, 21). The bodies displayed swelling lines and were sometimes oblong or elongated to correspond with the tea-pots and sugar bowls. The sides were either shaped with many curves (Key V, 21) or followed one graceful outward curving Fig. 6. A, Three-legged Cream Pitcher, by Joseph Richardson, Philadelphia, c. 1790; B, Cream Pitcher, by Joseph Shoemaker, Philadelphia, 1797-1S17. C. Hartman Kuhn Collection. Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. and returning line (Key IV, 7). There was also a type, with S scroll handle and contour approximating, but not equalling in grace, that of the earlier three-legged pattern {v. full-page plate of cream pitchers, in middle of bottom row). Pitchers of a larger size but generally similar con- tour were to be found, particularly in the early nine- teenth century, when they often assumed an approx- imately barrel or jug shape. 154 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS Ewers, of an urn shape, with short spout or mouth and a cover came into use in the latter part of the eighteenth century. They were not numerous, however. They were used for wine, water or cyder. Urns, as their name denotes, were of urn shape and became popular in the latter part of the eighteenth century, when the Adam influence w^as still strong and determined their design, as hot-water receptacles for the tea service. They stood on square bases, with or without feet ; had two ear-shaped handles ; a rising lid with finial atop and a spigot or tap in front, at the base of the urn, the thumb piece being of wood or ivory. The body of the urn, of tall, slender, pointed oval, classic shape — similar to that of the tall covered sugar bowl (Key V, 16) of the same period — might present either a continuously curved surface in circumference, or a surface fluted with a succession of shallow, con- cave, parabolic curves, like the surface of the sugar bowl or basket (Key V, 15) or the Revere tea-pot, or, finally, the polygonal circumference might be broken into a number of vertical facets. In the ensuing period of Empire influence the urns, though retaining their name and use, and the base and pedestal stock or support, developed either a round or oblong base (with or without feet) and a round body, sometimes of globular contour, sometimes of approxi- mately pear form; a surface broken horizontally into many swelling and returning moulded curves, like that of the tea-pot (Key IV, 10) ; otherwise a body of ob- long contour, similar to that of the tea-pot (Key V, 11), the transverse swellings and moulded curves still ap- pearing. The tops corresponded in style to the tops of contemporary tea-pots and sugar bowls. The Bottom of Plate made by Cesar Ghiselin, showing Texture of Silver and Maker's Mark Courtesy of the Rector and \'estry of Christ Church, Philadelphia Tray, Quill Tloldor, Ink Pot and Sand Shaker, made by Philip Syng, the Youncer, in 1752, for the Pennsylvania Assembly. Used in SijininK the Declaration of Independence. Courtesy of the Curator of the State House, Philadelphia Pear-shaped Sugar Bowl by George Dowig, 17G5; Saucepan, by Joseph Richardson, c. 1790; Wine Syphon C. Hartman Kuhn Collection, Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 155 handles were either of ear type or scroll shaped and placed vertically; rings hanging from lions' mouths; or else of shaped contour and fixed horizontally. Coffee Pots were not often to be met with till to- wards the middle of the eighteenth century. The earliest were of a cylindrical form tapering towards the top, had a curved spout, shaped scroll wooden handle let into sockets (Fig. 11, H) soldered to the back, and a drum lid wdth finial {v. plate illustration of coffee pot by Pygan Adams). Coffee pots were always built on tall, cylindrical lines as opposed to the low and often globular contour of tea-pots. The later coffee pots, howevejr, while maintaining and even increasing their height and relative circumference, shared somewhat in the characteristics of contemporary tea-pots. They had shaped sides, swelling out noticeably, like inverted pears, in the lower portion of the body and then sharply receding to the stock or pedestal which rose from an ornate moulded or gadrooned and splayed base or foot. Tlie curved spouts and handle sockets were often elab- orately decorated and the drum lids — more swelling than in the earlier type — were moulded and capped with pineapple or other finials {v. plate illustration of coffee pot by Paul Revere) . There was still another form, slightly later than the preceding, of shaped contour, swelling out in the lower part. It closely resembled the late, shaped tankards (Key III, 12) and had neither stock nor receding curve of the lower body (such as that noted in the type just discussed) but rested directly upon a splayed moulded foot. Otherwise it did not differ widely. AVhile coffee pots of the two types just described continued to be made through the eighteenth century, j^et another type 150 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS as was to be expected, came into fashion as well towards the end of that period. This last mentioned style was urn shaped, in accord with the strong Adam influence, stood upon a slender pedestal or stock and differed from the previously described urns of classic lines only in having a spout and scrolled wooden handle in- stead of two ear-shaped handles of silver. During the period of Empire influence, while usually retaining their traditional height, coffee pots w^ere made closely resembling, both in general contour and detail, the urns and tea-pots of contemporary vogue. They commonly stood upon buxom stocks. In the early nineteenth cen- tury also occurred melon-shaped coffee pots, standing upon legs, and elaborately decorated. Chocolate Pots w^ere cylindrical in form, swelling at the base and tapering towards the top, wdtli a domed cover {v. plate illustration). The curved spout was at the side and both base and cover w^ere especially sub- ject to ornamentation. This same general contour seems always to have been preserved, despite the muta- tions of fashion that affected the shapes of other arti- cles, and is to be seen also in Oriental porcelain choco- late pots. Punch Ladles had bowls flaring sidewise or bowels with lips or spouts at the sides to facilitate pouring; the handles were long and oftentimes were made of wood capped at the end with silver. Stkainees were fashioned with great elegance and care, for punch brewing was an highly important social function requiring the best of accessory appointments. Eims and handles were chastely moulded and the handles were scrolled (Fig. 7, B). Some strainers had two long handles, projecting on each side, which SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 157 stretched across the diameter of the punch bowl, resting upon the opposite rims ; others had but one handle, in which case there was apt to be a catch projecting down- ward (Fig. 7, A) to hold the strainer in place at the side of the bowl. The perforations (Fig. 7, B) were in decorative, and usually geometrical, patterns. Syphons and Funnels were made in silver {v. plate illustration) for the convenience of householders in a Fig. 7. Side view of Strainer by Benjamin Halstead, Pliiladelphia, 1783, showing catch; B, Top view of same Strainer. C. Hartman Kuhn Collection. Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. day when heads of families had regard enough for their port and Madeira to be punctilious about handling it themselves and before the appreciation of those pota- bles had been lessened by cocktails, highballs and their plebeian congeners. Bowls, such as those shown in Key II, 11 ; Key V, 13 and 14, and in the plate illustrations, besides being used for sugar or for tea slops, fulfilled a variety of other uses. Their contour affinities have already been noted. 158 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS Tea-Caddies or Canisters, towards the latter part of the eighteenth century, were made to accompany the silver tea services. Their shape was derived from the porcelain tea-caddies of the period while the details of form and decoration corresponded with the other arti- cles they were intended to accompany. They were not numerous, as Oriental lacquer boxes or wooden caddies, made in Hepplewhite or Sheraton designs to accord with the knife boxes and sideboards of the time, and containing two or more pewter compartments, were in far more general use. Flagons were much the same as tankards in point of contour, only taller and narrower in proportion, and, while sometimes probably employed domestically for filling tankards, were more commonly of ecclesiastical use and always retained their early form. They are further discussed under Ecclesiastical Silver. Buckles for shoes and knee breeches were made from an early date, were both plain and ornate, and, in general, corresponded with the dominant charac- teristic details of ornament of the period of their manu- facture. Line engraving, ' ' bright cutting ' ' and chasing were sometimes used for their embellishment. Un- fortunately a very large number of knee and shoe buckles found their way to the melting pot, when they were no longer in demand as items of personal apparel, and emerged in the form of tea spoons. Thimbles, needlecases, bodkins and other small sewing accessories of silver were numerous during the eighteenth century. Patch Boxes and Snuff Boxes during the eighteenth century were made in a variety of shapes, as fanciful conceit dictated, and were often objects of great ele- SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 159 gance and elaborate workmansliip. Even relatively plain patch and snuff boxes were not seldom beautifully engraved or chased with decorative designs on the top and sometimes on the bottom as well [v. plate illustra- tion). Sword Hilts, Whistles and other of the less com- mon elegancies were determined more by personal fancy than by any prevailing period influences. Wine Labels appeared late in the eighteenth cen- tury and both at that time and aftersvards accorded with current silver styles. They were both oblong and shajDed and were concaved to lie close to the rounded contour of the decanter. They occasionally display "bright cut" edge bands or other decorative engrav- ing or chasing as well as the lettering to indicate the contents of the decanter. Candlesticks of the first chronological division had square or round bases, a hobeche-like projection low down on the stock for convenience in carrying, and plain stocks with mid-bands or else fluted stocks, taper- ing toward the top. In the second chronological di- vision, or from about the second quarter of the eight- eenth century, candlesticks had baluster stems with octagonal, round or shaped bases {v. plate illustration). Branching candelabra belong to the latter part of this era. In the third chronological division, the shafts or stems were of a more pronouncedly architectural pat- tern with square bases, the sides of the stem frequently being fluted and the socket moulded like a pillar capi- tal. The architectural candlestick maintained its popu- larity in the early nineteenth century. Sconces occur now and again but are not numerous and are generally of a plain pattern with S-shaped stems. 160 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS Candle Snuffers and Trays, made of a design suit- able to accompany candlesticks, occur from about the middle of the eighteenth century onward. Jewellery. It has been pointed out that many of the silversmiths, as was quite natural, were goldsmiths as well. In this capacity they fabricated not a little jewellery, including bracelets, necklaces, chains, set- tings for brooches and seals, rings, earrings and the like. In this phase of their business, they wrought in both gold and silver and displayed no less taste and deftness of touch than in the manufacture of church plate and domestic tableware. Attention has also been called to the fact that a large proportion of the silver- smiths were proficient in the art of engraving and it is, therefore, not sur]3rising to find them cutting numer- ous seals. The subject of Colonial Jewellery is too large to treat in the chapter on Silver. Many excellent pieces of Colonial workmanship remain and a little investiga- tion would readily yield sufficient material for a val- uable monograph. Note: It is manifestly impossible that all discoverable forms of early American silver could be included in the descriptions set forth in tlie foregoing sections. Variations from these representative types must inevitably occur but, notwithstanding the points of dilTerence they exhibit, they are plainly and unmistakably derivations from the more usual and representative types and a reader familiar with the general type characteristics, as noted in this chapter, will find no difficulty in classifying them according to their stylstic affinities. ECCLESIASTICAL SILVER In church silver, owing to the strong conservatism that always prevails in matters ecclesiastical, there is to be found less change of style than in the domestic silver of the same periods and early forms persisted with great pertinacity. SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 161 Chalices may be defined as standing cups or goblets on baluster stems rising from a broad, round foot or base. The lower part of the cup, immediately above the baluster stem, might be either plain or gadrooned. It was usually plain, however, and the sides of the cup might be either straight or flared slightly outward, while the rim might or might not be flared. In some in- stances the bowl of the cup was of great depth and the stem comparatively short. Stem and base might be plain or elaborately moulded and gadrooned. Chalices were often made with flanged covers to fit tightly over the top and these covers were frequently made in the form of patens {v. Patens) wdth a base, the paten being inverted when used as a chalice cover. Owing to the strong Puritan element in New Eng- land and the general desire to eliminate, as far as pos- sible, all points of resemblance to the usages of the Church of England, it was a common thing to substi- tute beakers, cans, mugs or other drinking vessels in- stead of chalices for sacramental purposes, and conse- quently chalices, though not unknown, were compara- tively rare wherever the Puritan influence was para- mount. In Dutch New York and the IXitch parts of Long Island and North Jersey we find the same preva- lence of beakers and the same scarcity of chalices for a similar reason. In Pennsylvania, however, in South, West and Eastern Jersey, and in Delaware and the Southern Colonies, where the Church of England was far stronger numerically, exactly the opposite con- dition obtained and chalices were the rule while beakers were the exception. All the same, beakers did occur once in a while and that, too, in unquestionably orthodox and consei-vative parishes, as, for example, the Ghiseliu 11 162 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS beaker {v. plate illustration) among the collection of plate at Christ Church, Philadelphia, or a beaker of Dutch workmanship at St. Mary's, Burlington. In the Swedish parishes of Pennsylvania, West Jersey and Delaware the chalice was used. Patens were discs or plates, either with or without rims, and were made of a pattern to correspond with the chalice. The two odinarily went together in the case of an individual's gift to a church. The paten was usually flat bottomed, like a plate {v. plate illustration of Ghiselin plate or paten), but was sometimes raised on a low base or stock. Both chalice and paten were commonly plain save, perhaps, for an engraved in- scription or the arms of the donor. Flagons were virtually of tankard shape but much taller and narrower in proportion. The straight sides of their cylindrical bodies or barrels were either per- pendicular or tapered toward the top and there was no moulded mid-band, as in some of the tankards. Whatever moulded bands encircled the body or barrel of the flagon w^ere near either the top or the bottom. When inscriptions or heraldic engraving were used, they were ordinarily placed on the body about the middle of the front. The projecting base was moulded and the lid or cover was drummed {v. plate illustra- tion of Quarry flagon at Christ Church, Philadelphia, , by Philip Syng, the elder) and might be either flat on top or finished with a finial {v. plate illustration of the flagon of Brattle Street Church, Boston). The lid or cover was raised by pressing down a purchase {v. Fig. 11 (b), K) or thumb piece. The handles were ''S" scrolled and there were no spouts at the lip whose circumference was unbroken by any shape to facilitate pouring. SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 163 Towards the latter part of the eighteenth century a form of flagon with shaped sides, swelling out in a bulbous manner towards the bottom of the body, and a splayed, moulded foot, was occasionally seen and, later still, an urn-shaped ewer form of flagon was intro- duced. Beakers and Cups. Beakers have already been de- fined {v. Drinking Vessels) as tall, tumbler-shaped ves- sels with sides tapering towards a flat bottom or a moulded base (Key I, 7 and the plate illustrations of the Dutch beaker by an unknown maker and the Ghiselin beaker at Christ Church, Philadelphia). For the sake of nice distinction, it seems desirable to make the fol- lowing differentiation between beakers and cups, as set forth by Miss Paull, of the Boston Museum : — While the beaker had a flat bottom or else a moulded base, the cup had a rounded bottom (which might be either plain or gadrooned as in Key I, 9), rising from a splayed, moulded or reeded base. Both beakers and cups might be of any height and diameter compatible with con- venience in handling and both might or might not have handles. There was almost invariably a perceptible outward flare at the rim. Alms Basons and Collection Plates. The chief points of distinction between these two pieces seem to be in the greater expanse and depth of the former. The plate illustration of the Hancock plate, with its en- graved cherub heads, is sufficiently representative to render further minute description unnecessary. Baptismal Bowls and Basons were of various sizes and patterns. The baptismal bason at Christ Church, Philadelphia, by Philip Syng the elder (v. plate illus- tration) is 14:% inches in diameter and correspondingly 164 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS deep and was made to be set in the font. On the other hand, some of the old Dutch New York baptismal bowls are comparatively shallow with broad rims, while still another type, sometimes to be met with in New Eng- land, stood on a moulded pedestal or stem {v. baptismal bowl of the old church at Cohasset, mentioned in chap- ter on Pewter). There was no prevailing standard of type, either chronological or local. DECORATIVE PROCESSES The decorative processes that were commonly em- ployed for the embellishment of American silver made between the date of colonisation and the end of the first quarter of the nineteenth century were Engraving, Chasing, Flat-chasing, Moulding, Gtadrooning, Em- bossing, Filleting, and Stamping. Engraving was the decorative process most fre- quently used. It gave more latitude of design than other processes, yielded more variety of application, and was peculiarly adapted to the material as a medium of surface embellishment. It was performed with the ordinary graving tools, and the proficiency of the early silversmiths, displayed in this method of orna- mentation, found its echoing manifestation in their achievements on copper and wood. One of the essential characteristics of engraving, indeed, it might be called . the distinguishing characteristic, was the removal of a part of the metal by the gouging of the shaving tool, no matter how small the quantity removed might be. The three usual channels in which the smith could show his skill in engraving were lettering, the execution of armorial hearings, and the tracing of decorative or symbolic devices. To these must be added the ''bright- SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 165 cut" engraving which was extensively practised in the latter part of the eighteenth century and early nine- teenth for the ** dog-toothed" decorative bands, ovals, and other motifs so freely used in the application of patterns of Adam provenance, and consisted of a suc- cession of broad, shallow side cuts of the tool, much on the principle used in executing the "wriggled work" on pewter surfaces, which produced numerous small facets at a slight angle. Examples of this, usually in conjunc- tion with the direct line process, may be seen in Fig. 1, A; Key III, 16; Key V, 15, the Revere tea-pot of the plate illustration, and the other pieces shown herewith. The difference in method may readily be seen by com- parison with such a piece of work as the small section of surface showing armorial bearings in large detail, in one of the plate illustrations. Chasing differed essentially from engraving in that the design was effected with punches, none of the metal being removed and a slight burr being sometimes raised which was afterwards burnished off. Flat-chasing had reference to the depth or rather shallowness of punch marks as distinguished from deep punched lines. Moulding consisted of casting in moulds such parts as it was not convenient or suitable to M^ork up with hammer or fashion over shaped anvils, such, for in- stance, as the pineapple finials on sugar bowls and tea- pots, some of the masque, fruit, and flower ornaments on tankard handles, the cherub heads on tips or plates, legs of salts, and cream pitchers (Fig. 6, A), the scroll work of sugar scissors or tongs and their shell tips {v. plate illustration), porringer handles (Fig. 2, A), and the like. 166 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS Filleting consisted in the application of bands, rims, and the members of decorative mouldings. Gadrooning consisted in producing a series of con- vex gadroons or nulling by working up the sheet of metal or piece of hollow-ware over a shaping anvil or over a mould shaped for the purpose (Key I, 8 and 9; plate illustration, base of sugar bowl by Dowig) . Embossing or Repousse work is really an amplifica- tion of the previous process and its application to the production of more than one motif. The design had to be worked up by the agency of beak irons {v. supra) inside the vessel and hammering from the outside over the beak irons' horns, thus raising the design in relief. One of the most beautiful examples of decoration pro- duced by this process is the beaker by Samuel Drowne (1728-1774) with an acanthus base which is also chased. Stamping, besides being applied to spoon bowls and like shallow objects, was resorted to for making decora- tive bands and repeats, such as the acanthus leaves about the base of the tankard in Key III, 11. When stamped by dies in a strip, these decorations were soldered in place. TYPES OF DECORATIVE MOTIFS Lettering was the simplest form of engraved dec- oration, and was executed in all manners, from Roman capitals to numerous variations of flowing script. In nearly all cases the lettering is well spaced and the letters themselves are well proportioned and graceful (Key I, 2 ; Fig. 1, B and E, the rim of the Christ Church baptismal bowl by Philip Syng, the back of the ' ' Mar- garet Tresse, spinstor" plate by Cesar Grhiselin, the rim of the Hancock plate, and the flagon of the Brattle Street Church). o o c •< £. bs o 00 O 3 O a. o , *< 2 >^ a •* o D- I W 25 •^ r- ft c 3 n o V z c e W S" BArXISMAL BOWL (14>i INCHES IN DIAMETER) AND FLAGON, RY PHILIP SYNG, THE ELDER. 1712 BEAKER AND PLATE BY CESAR GHISELIX, c. 1710 Courtesy of the Rector and Vestry of Christ Church, Philadelphia SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 167 When lettering was done it was customarily en- graved on the fronts of tankards, mugs, cups, and cans, on the rims or bottoms of plates, the handles of por- ringers, and the handles of spoons and forks. It is interesting to note that, during the 1st chronological division and part of the 2d, while it was customary to turn the end of the spoon up in front, initials and crests w^ere modestly engraved on the back (Fig. 1, B and C; Key I, 2, and Key II, 3). After that time, when the ends were turned down, crests and initials were gen- erally moved in front, and other decorations also then began to be employed on the handle (Key III, 1, 3, 5 and 7; Fig. 1, A). Heealdic Ornament, consisting of armorial bear- ings and crests, was one of the most beautiful and legitimate forms of silver embellishment. Wherever there was a broad surface, the front of a tankard or urn, the side of a tea-pot or sugar bowl, the level ex- panse of a tray, or even a small, fiat surface like the head of a spoon handle (Fig. 1, C; Key II, 3), one is likely to meet with some heraldic device — it may be merely the crest, or it may be the full arms with crest, torce, mantlings, and all. The character of the engrav- ing was almost universally excellent, and this form of decoration was far more dignified and seemly than some of the tortured modern efforts. Strap-work Avas peculiarly characteristic of silver made by smiths of Dutch birth or descent, and is almost never found on a piece of American silver made outside of the New York sphere of influence. The beaker of the plate illustration shows how this interlacing strap- work was employed in conjunction with floriated and foliated scroll-work (Fig. 8), and Fig. 9 shows how 168 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS strap-work decoration was further elaborated by the ad- dition of human figures, birds, fruit, and other objects. Fio. 8. Detail of engraved strap work and foliation as applied by Dutch New York silversmiths. Courtesy of R. T. Haines Halsey, Esq. (Catalogue of New York Exhibition) FiQ. 9. Detail of engraved fruits and figures with strap work. Courtesy of R. T. Haines Halsey, Esq. (Catalogue of New York Exiiibition) Foliage, Sckolls, both foliated and floriated, Cherubs' Heads, Garlands and Ribbons and various SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 169 other decorative motifs, including the Adam swags and DROPS, PENDENT HUSKS, and PATERAE Were freely used, as may be seen by the illustrations, for the enrichment of surfaces. RIARKS AND LIARKING The Colonial silversmiths were not required, as in England, to set their mark upon a piece of silver they had fashioned, in connexion with the hall-mark and date letter. There was no regulation requiring official assay- ing and hall-marking, and it was not done. Neither was a date letter or mark stamped. As there was no regulation about marking silver, some of it is entirely unmarked and we can only make conjectures as to the maker. Most of the early smiths, however, followed the English tradition of marking their wares. They gen- erally used their initials placed within rectangles, ovals, shields, circles, and the like (Fig. 10), and either with or without some device such as a fleur-de-lis, a crown, a pellet, or a star in conjunction (Fig. 10; bottom of Cesar Ghiselin plate, in plate illustration). The name of the place of manufacture is not given. In some instances, wdicre the surname was short, the full sur- name was given. Makers did not confine themselves to one mark, but used several indiscriminately from time to time. John Hull and Robert Sanderson, Jolm Potwine, Jacob Burt, and various others had a succession of marks, "while the Reveres, father and son, had a bewildering array. About the first quarter of the eighteenth century it became common to use the surname, with or without an 170 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS initial, and occasionally the full name appeared. Plenty of instances occur, however, up to about 1770, where only the initials are used. The employment of devices along with the makers' initials gradually fell into dis- use towards the middle of the eighteenth century. CA-rtoucKe c 3 I.ong Ovii Rfici^n^le, Shaped RecfAncU, Engrailed* P*cf Angle, 5err*.fcd C&rfoucK« 'i^ea.r^- circle Crescenf Crown O CO OviJ Did.Tnon4 Pellet- Sh&pcd 5Kiel(in cartouche) Ball, S. S. 1838 Ball, True M. 1815 Barnes, Abraham 1716 Belknap, Samuel 1751-1821 Bentley, Thomas c. 1762-c. 1800 Bingham, John 1678 Blowers, John 1710-1748 BLOWERS (in long oval); Blowers (script, in rec- tangle) Boyer, Daniel c. 1725-1779 BOYER (in rectangle) D B (in rectangle) D B (in two ovals) Boyer, James c. 1700-1741 Bridge, John 1723-c. 1794 BRIDGE I-BRIDGE (in a cartouche) Brinton, Gordon & Quirk 1780 Brown, Ebenezer 1773-1816 Burnett, C. A. C-A-BURNETT (in rec- tangle) Burrill, Joseph 1823 BurriU, S. c. 1680-c. 1733 S.B. (pellets above, fleur-de- lis below, heart-shaped shield) S: Burrill (in cartouche) S.B. (in rectangle) Burt, Benjamin 1728-1803 BENJAMIN (in cartouche) BURT BURT (in rectangle) B-BURT (in rectangle) Burt, John 1690(?)-1745JO//7V BURT (in oval) (also in car- touche) I. BURT (in cartouche) I B (crown above, pellet be- low, in shaped shield) Burt, Samuel 1724-1754 SAMUEL BURT (in cartouche) Burt, WilMam 1726-1752 W.BURT (in rectangle) SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 173 Butler, James 1713-1776 J.BUTLER (in rectangle) 1 B (in rectangle) Carpenter, Charles 1807 Cary, Lewis 1820 L- CARY (in engrailed scroll ending in rosettes) Chasley, 1764 Churchill, Jesse 1773-1819 i V CHURCHILL (in rec- tangle) CHURCHILL (in rectangle) Churchill & Treadwell 1815 Clark, Samuel c. 1681 Clark, Thomas (Boston?) -1783 Cobb, E. c. 1710-c. 1762 E. Cobb (in rectangle) Coburn, John 1725-1803 J. COBURN (in rectangle) Codner, John 1754-1782 Cole, John 1686 Cony, John (Coney) 1655-1722 I C (in a shaped heart, fleur- de-Us below) I C (crowned, in a shaped shield, coney below) I C (in rectangle) Conyers, Joseph c. 1708 Conyers, Richard -1708 Coolidge, Joseph, Jr. 1770 Cowell, William 1682-1736 W Cowell (in a cartouche) W C (in a shaped shield, star and two pellets above, pellet below) W C (in oval) W: Cowell (script, in a car^ touche) Cowell, William, Jr. 1713-1761 Crosby, Jonathan c. 1743- Cross, 1695 Crouckeshanks, Alexander 1768 Dane, Thomas c. 1724-c. 1796 T: DANE (in long oval) Davis, Joshua 1796 I DAVIS (in serrated rec- tangle) Davis, T. A. 1824 Davis, William 1823 Davis, A\'iit8on & Co. c. 1820 Dawes, William 1719-1802 Demmock, John 1798 Deverell, John c. 1764-1813 Dixwell, Basil 1711-1746 Di.xwell, John 1680-1725 I D (in oval) Doler, Daniel 1765 Donaldson, John W. 1823 Drowne, Shem 1728-1774 Dummer, Jeremiah 1645-1718 i D (in heart, fleur-de-lis below) Dunkerly, Joseph ? 1787 Dwight, Timothy 1654-1691 T D (in heart, six pellets below) 174 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS Eames, Joshua Eayres, Thomas Stevens c Edwards, Andrew Edwards, John c Edwards, Joseph Edwards, Joseph, Jr. Edwards, Samuel Edwards, Thomas Emery, Stephen Emery, Thomas Knox c. Emery & Co. Epps, Ellery Evans, Robert c Faris, Charles (Boston ?) c. Farnam, Henry Farnam, Ilufus (Farnham) c. Farnam, R. & H. Flagg, Josiah (Jeweller) c Flagg, Josiah, Jr. (Jeweller) Fletcher, Thomas c Fletcher & Gardiner c Foster, Joseph Foster, Samuel Frothingham, Ebenezer Gardner, Sidney c Gay, Nathaniel Gibbs, Daniel Glidden, Joseph ? c Goodwin, Benjamin Gray, John Gray, Samuel Gray, Samuel Green, Benjamin -1722 . 1760-c. 1803 1763-1798 . 1670-1746 I E (in quatrefoil) I E (crowned, in shaped shield, fleur-de-lis below) I E (in lobed shield); I E (in cartouche) 1707-1777 I Edwards (script, in rectan- gle) I • E (in rectangle) ? 1737-1783 1705-1762 S • E (crowned, in shaped shield, fleur-de-lis below) 1701-1755 T Edwards (script, in rec- tangle) and T E (in rectangle) T E (crowned, in shield) and T E (in rectangle) . 1752-1801 S. Emery (in cartouche) S E (in rectangle) Emery (in cartouche) 1781-1815 T-K -EMERY, (large, in rectangle) 1798 -1808 .1768-1812 EVANS (in engrailed rec- tangle) . 1790 C's Faris (script, in oblong oval); Chas. Faris (script, in oblong oval) 1773- H. FARNAM (in rectangle) 1771- R. FARNHAM (in rectangle) 1807 R & H FARNAM (in rec- tangle) 1713-1741 1738 1810 1810 1789 FOSTER (in rectangle); I. FOSTER (in rectangle) 1676-1702 1756-1814 1810 1680 1716 1697-c. 1780 I G (crowned, fleur-de-Hs be- low in shield) 1756 B : Goodwin (in rectangle) 1692-1720 1684-1713 GRAY (in rectangle) 1710 S : GRAY (in rectangle) 1712-1748 B : GREEN (in rectangle) SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 175 Greene, Ruf us 1707-1777 R • GREENE (in shaped rec- tangle) R • G (in shaped rectangle) R G (small in rectangle) Griffith, David Grignon, Benjamine Guille, Noah Haddock, Henry Hanners, George -1789 1685 1701 1830 0. 1696-1740 Hanncrs, George, Jr. Hansell, Robert Harding, Newell Haugh, Samuel Healy, Henchman, Daniel 1721-1760 1823 1799-1862 1675-1717 -1773 1730-1775 Hewes, Abram Hiller, Benjamin 1823 1687- Hiller, Joseph Hitchborn, Samuel Holyoke, Edward Homes, William 1721-1758 1752-1828 1817 1717-1783 Homes, William, Jr. How, David Howard, William Howe, Otis Hull, John Hull & Sanderson 1742-1825 c. 1745- -1823 1788-1825 1624-1683 1652-1683 G . HANNERS (in rectangle) G H (crowned, pellet below, in shield) S H (in rectangle) Henchman (in rectangle) D H (in rectangle) B H (two crescents below, in a shaped shield) B H (in cartouche) W • Homes (in rectangle) HOMES (in rectangle) HOMES and W. H (both in rectangles) W H (in rectangle) I H (in heart, fleur-de-lis below) I H (in shaped shield, rose above) I H] (in heart, fleur-de-lis ( below-) RSnin shaped shield, rose I above) I Hi (in shaped shield, rose above) RSnin shaped shield, sun above) I H I (in heart, fleur-de-lis I below) RS((in shaped shield, sun I above) R S I (in shaped shield, sun above) I H| (heart-shaped shield, rose below) 176 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS Hull & Sanderson 1652-1683 I H Hurd, Jacob Hurd, Nathaniel Hurst, Henry Jesse, David Jones, John Jones, J. B. Jones & Ward Kelly, Grael Kneeland, Joseph Leach, Charles Leach, Nathaniel Legare, Daniel Legare, Francis Leverett, Knight Loring, Henry Loring, Joseph Low, Francis Low, John J. & Co. Luscomb, John G. Manning, Daniel McFarlane, John Mecum, George Millner, Thomas Minott, Samuel Mitchell, Phineas Morse, David 1702-1758 I (in square with rounded I top, four pellets above) R,S|(in shaped shield, rose I above) I H] (in square with rounded I top, four pellets above) RS|(in shaped shield, sun J above) HURD (in cartouche) 1729-1777 c. 1665-1717 1670-1708 c. 1810 1782-1854 c. 1815 1823 1698-1760 c. 1765-1814 -1789 1688-1724 1636-1711 1703-1753 1773-1818 1776 1806-1855 1828 1823 1823 c. 1796 1830 Jacob Hurd (in cartouche) Hurd (in oval) Jacob Hurd (in oartouche) I Hurd (in shaped oval) I H (in rectangle) HURD (small in rectangle) Hurd (in shaped oval) N • Hurd (in rectangle) N. Hurd (small in cartouche) H H (in shield) D I (circle above, pellet be- low, in a circle) J. B. JONES (in rectangle) PURE COIN (in rectangle) : Kneeland (script in a car- touche) K • Leverett (script, in a car- touche) K L (in shield) K L (in rectangle) V. Hull, Mass. • McF eagle (in rectangle) and 1690-c. 1745 T M (in shaped rectangle) 1732-1803 1812 S-M (in rectangle); Minott (script, in rectangle) ; Min- ott (script, in rectangle) and M (script, in square) -1798 SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 177 Morse, Hazen Morse, Moses Morse, Nathaniel Revere, Paul 1813 1816 c. 1685- Morse, Stephen Moseley, David 1796 1753- Moulton, Ebenezer Neuill, Richard Norcross, Nehemiah Norton, Benjamin Noyes, John 1796 1796 1810 1674- Oliver, Andrew OUver, Peter Paddy, Samuel Parker, Daniel c. 1722 1682- c. 1659 1727- Parkman, John Perkins, Isaac Philhps, Samuel Pierce, John Pollard, WiUiam Pons, Thomas 1716- c. 1707- 1658- c. 1810 c. 1690 1757- Poor, Nathaniel C. Potwine, John 1808 1698 Prince, Job 1680- Putnam & Son 1822 Revere, Edward 1767- Revere, J. W. 1798 Revere, Paul, Sr 1702 M. MORSE (in rectangle) ■1748 N M (crowned, bird? below, in a shaped shield); N M (in rectangle); N M (crowned, flower below; shaped shield); N M (in rectangle) V. Newbury, Mass. 1812 D Moseley (script, in rec- tangle); DM (in rectangle) ■1074 .' .' .' . .' .' .' '. N N (in a cartouche) -1749 I N (cross below, in shaped shield); I N (fleur-de-lis below, in a shield) ; I N (in an oval) 1712 PO (in a heart) 1786 D • PARKER (in rectangle) ; D • P (in a rectangle) ; D : P (in oval) 1748 -1737 -c. 1722 W. P (in an oval) ■c. 1817 PONS (large, in an engrailed rectangle); PONS (in rec- tangle) -1895 -1792 I : Potwine (script, in car- touche); I — P (in oval); I P (crowned, in shaped shield); PO (in heart- shaped shield) -1708 -1845 -1754 1735-1818 P. REVERE (in rectangle); P • Revere (italic script, in rectangle) ; P R (in crowned shield); P R (crowned, in shaped shield); P. RE- VERE (in rectangle). P. REVERE (in shaped oval) • REVERE (in rectangle) ; • REVERE and P. R. (script, in rectangles); REVERE (in a rectangle); 178 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS Revere, Paul Revere, Paul Revere, Thomas Revere & Son Ridgway, James Ridgw'ay, John Roberts, Frederick Rouse, Michael Rouse, William Royalston, John Sanderson, Robert Sargeant & Ensign Savage, Thomas Sawin, Silas Shreve, Benjamin Simpkins, Thomas Barton Simpkins, William Smith, Joseph Somerby, Robert Stacy, P. Stanwood, Henry B. Stodder & Frobisher Sutherland, George Swan, Caleb Symmes, John Thomson, Peter Trott, George Trott, Jonathan Turner, James Tyler, Andrew 1735-1818 P. R (script, in rectangle) ; P R (in rectangle); P R (incised) 1760-1813 1765-1817 T R (in rectangle) i7a6 -1789 1807 1770 1687- M R (in rectangle) ; M R (in a shield) 1639-1704 W. R. (star and two pellets above, pellet below, in a shaped shield) ; W R (fleur- de-lis above and below, in a circle) 1770 I R (crowned, shaped shield) c. 1610-1693 R S (rose above, in a shaped shield) ; R S (sun above, in shaped shield) 1823 1664-1749 T S (star below, in a heart) 1823 1813-1896 1728-1804 1704-1780 W. SIMPKINS (in car- touche); W. SIMPKINS and Simpkins (script, in rectangle) ; W. Simpkins (script, in rectangle); W Simpkins (script, in rec- tangle) and W S (in rec- tangle) ; W S (in rectangle) 1789 I. SMITH (in a rectangle) 1794-1821 1819 1818-1869 1817 1810 1754-1816 1766 1817 c. 1765 1730-1815 J. TROTT (in cartouche, or shaped oval) 1744 I T (in shaped shield) 1692-1741 A T (fleur-de-lis below, in a heart); A T (fleur-de-lis, below in a heart), A T (crowned, cat ? below, in a shaped shield); A T (crowned, cat below, in a shaped shield) ; A. TYLER (in rectangle) SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 179 Tyler, David Tyler, George Vinton, David Ward, Richard Waters, Samuel Watson, Edward Webb, Barnabas Welch, John Welles, George Welles & Co. West, B, West, Charles Whiton, Ebed W^illis, Stillman Winslow, Edward New York City: Alstyne, Jeronimus Anderson, ^\'illiam Archie, John Backus, Delurine Bancker, Adrian Bay ley, Simeon A. Baj'ley & Douglas Benjamin, Barzillai Bennett, James Besley, Thauvet Boelen, Hendrik Boelen, Jacob Bogardus, Everardus Bogert, Albert Bolton, James Bourdet, Stephen Bowne, Samuel Boyce, G. Brasher, Ephraim Brevoort, John Brinckley, William Broadhurst, Samuel Bruff, Charles Oliver Burger, John Byrne, James Cady, Samuel Cady & Backus c. 1760-1804 D T (in a rectangle) 1740- G . T (in a rectangle) c. isis" v....... 1804 S. WATERS (in rectangle) 1821 c. 1729 1730-1812 1784-1827 c. 1800 1770 c. 1830 1826 1823 1669-1753 E W (fleur-de-lis below, in a shaped shield); E W (in a double circle) ; E W (in rec- tangle) 1787 1746 W A (in rectangle) 1759 I A [John Archie?] (in oval) 1796 1703-c. 1761A B (in oval); A B (pellet below, in a heart) 1790 Bayley (in shaped rectangle) 1798 1774-1844 1769 1727 T B (monogram, crown above) -1755 HB (monogram, in shaped shield) -1705 I B (rose below, in shield); I B (with crown above, in cartouche) ; I B (in shaped shield) 1698 1816 1790 1730 1805 1829 1786 1742 1804 1725 1763 1786 1790 1796 1796 S . BOWNE (in rectangle) E B (in oval) Burger (script, in rectangle), N. York (script in rec- tangle) 180 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS Cant, Godfrey 1796 Caralin, Pierce 1804 Caston, Francois 1804 1 Chat, Le Sieur 1790 Chene, Daniel 1786 Chitry, P. 1816 P. Chitry (in long oval) Clapp & Ricker 1805 Coen, Daniel 1787 Coley, Simeon 1767 Coley, Wm. 1816 Cooke, John 1804 Cornehson, Cornelius 1712 Crawford, John 1815 Dally & Halsey 1787 Dawson, John 1767 Denise, John & Tunis 1798 J & T. D (in rectangle), phoe- nix's head (in rectangle), sheaf of wheat (in rec- tangle) DePeyster, Wm. 1733 De Remier, Peter 1769 Dobbs 1788 DuBois, Joseph 1790 3. DUBOIS (in rectangle) Duche, Rene Rock 1804 Dunn, Cary 1765 CDUisfN (in rectangle) Edmechat, Claude 1790 Edwards, Thomas 1731 EUeson, Peter 1796 Eoff, Garrett c. 1785- 1850 G.EOFF (in rectangle); G. Eoff (in rectangle) Etting, Benjamin 1769 Evans, John 1816 Feurt, Peter — 1737 Fielding, George 1731 Forbes, Abraham G. 1769 , Forbes, Colin V. G. 1816 Forbes, G. 1816 Forbes, I. W. 1805-] 1820 i.' W.' FORBES (in rectangle, Forbes, W. G, sheaf of wheat below) ; I W FORBES (in rectangle, sheaf of wheat); I. W. FORBES (in rectangle) 1773 W G FORBES (in rectangle) ; W FORBES (in rectangle); W G FORBES (in rec- tangle ; eagle's head in oval, sheaf of wheat in rectangle) ; W G Forbes (in oblong), eagle's head (in oval), sheaf of wheat (in rec- tangle); W G FORBES (script, in rectangle), eagle's head (in oval). SIL\^R; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 181 Fournequet, Lewis 1796 Francis, N. 1805 n" FRANCIS (in oblong, eagle (in square with ser- rated top) Fueter, Daniel Christian 1754 Fueter, David 1789 Fueter, Lewis 1770 Gale, John 1816 V. Heyer Gale, Wm. 1821 Gardiner, B. 1829 Gilbert, Wm. 1783 Goelet, Philip 1701- 1747(?)PG'(inoval) Gordon, Andrew 1796 Gordon, A. & J. 1798 Gordon, James 1796 Grigg, William 1765 Grigg (script, in shaped rec- tangle) Hall, Drew 1789 Halsey, Benjamin 1764 Halsey, Jabez 1762- 1820 i '• HALSEY (in rectangle) Halsted, Benjamin 1764 V. Philadelphia Hamersley, Thos. 1756 T H (in rectangle) Hastier, John 1726 I H (in heart); J-H (in rec- tangle) Hastier, Margueritte 1771 Hays, Andrew 1769 Heath, John 1761 Hendrickse, Ahasuerus 1698 A - I (in oval) Heron, Isaac 1768 Heurtin, Wm. 1731 (d. 1771 )W. H (in oval) Heyer, W. B. 1798 W. B. HEYER (in rectangle), H & N (in rectangle); W. B. HEYER (in rectangle), J. GALE (in rectangle) Hinsdale, Epaphras 1796 Hutton, John 1720 I H (in rectangle) Hutton, John S. 1684- 1792 V. Philadelphia Jackson, John 1731 Johnson, Samuel 1783 Judah 1774 Kendal, Charles 1787 Kierstead, Cornelius c. 1675- c. 1753 C K (in rectangle); C K (a diamond and two pellets below, in a shield) Kingston, John 1775 Kip, Benjamin 1702 Leddel, Joseph 1752 Lent, John 1787 LeRoux, Bartholomew 1739 LeRoux, Charles 1725 C' L LeRoux, John 1723 I. L. (in oblong) ; I L (in oval) Lintot 1762 Luzerder, Benj. 1796 Lyell, David 1699 182 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS Lyng, John Burt Malrid & Co. Martin, P. Maverick, Peter R. McClymon, J. C. Mecom, John Merick, J. B. Merkler, John H. Morris, John Morris, Sylvester Mott, John & Wm. Moulinar, John Myers, Myer Newkirke, Joseph Onclebagh, Garrett Overin, Rich. Parisien, Otto Parisien, O & Son Pattit, Thomas Pearce, Samuel Pearson, John Pelletreau, Elias Petit, Thomas Pinto, Joseph Pontran, Abraham Quintard, Peter Reeves, Stephen Richard, S. Richardson, Thos. Ridout, Geo. Riker, P. Riker & Alexander Ritter, Michael Robbs Robert, Christopher Roberts, Michael Romney, John Roosevelt, Nicholas Roshore, Jfohn Russel, John H. Sayre, Joel Schaats, Bartholomew 1761 LYNG (in rectangle), N, YORK (in rectangle) 1787 1756 1755-1811 1805 -1770 J. B. Merick (in rectangle) 1788 1796 1759 • 1789 1744 I M (in rectangle) 1746 Myers (script in shaped rec tangle) 1716 I. N (in oval) 1698 GBo (in trefoil) 1702 1769 1789 1796 1783 1796 1750 1796 1758 1727 1731 E P (in rectangle) A P (in heart)? P q (in square) ; P Q (in square) 1776 V. BurHngton, N. J. 1828 1769 1745 G R (in square) 1801 1798 1786 1788 1731 1786 1770 1735 N R V (in rectangle) 1796 1796 1778-1818 I SAYRE (in rectangle); I. Sayre (script, in shaped rectangle) 1670-1758 B S (in square); B.S. (in heart, with fleur-de-lis be- low) Schenck, John 1796 Sexnine, Simon 1722 Skinner, Abraham 1756 Slidel, Joshua 1765 SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 183 Smith, James 1797 Smith, Wm. 1770 Soiimaine, Simeon 1719 Staples, John J. Jr. 1788 Stephens, Geo. 1790 Stone & Osbnrn 1796 Stoutenburgh, Tobias 1731 Targee, John & Peter 1798 TenEyck, Koenraet 1716 Thomas, Walter 1769 Thomson, W. 1830 Tingley, Sam'l. 1767 Underbill, Andrew 1788 Underhill, Thomas 1787 Underbill & Vernon 1786 Van Beuren, P. 1790 Van Beuren, Wm. 1797 Van der Spiegel, Jacobus 1685 Van der Spiegel, Johannes 1666-1716 Van Dyck, Peter 1684-1750 Van Dyck, Rich. 1750 Van Voorhis, Daniel 1787 Van Voorhis & Cooly 1786 Van Voorhis & Son 1798 Vergereau, Peter 1721 Vernon, John 1789 Vernon, J. & Co. 1796 Wenman, Barnard 1786 Whitlock, Thos. 1796 Wilson, R. 1805 Windovcr, John c. 1672-1727 Wishart, Hugh 1789 Woods, Freeman 1790 Wool, Jeremiah Ward 1791 Wynkoop, Cornelius 1701 Wynkoop (Wyncoope), Benj. 1675- S S (in square) ; S S (in circle) I & PT (in rectangle), eagle's head (in oval); I & PT (in rectangle) leopard's head. K TE (in rectangle) A UNDERHILL (in rec- tangle), A U (in oval) I V S (in trefoil); lo'^V (in trefoil) I V S (in serrated rectangle) P-V-D (in oval); PVD (in oval) P. V. D. (in rectangle P^D (in trefoil) R V D (in rectangle) D. V. V. (in rectangle), eagle (in diamond); D V (in rectangle), eagle (in dia- mond); D. V. V. (in oval) J. W (in cartouche) H. WISHART (in rectangle), spread eagle (in oval); H. WISHART (in rectangle); H. WISHART (in rec- tangle), eagle (in oval), imitation English Hall Marks; WISHART (in rec- tangle) Woods (script, in shaped oval) 1740(?) 1741(?) WgK (in a heart); B W (in long oval) 184 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS Philadelphia: Aitken, John 1796 Alexander, Saml. 1797 Alexander, S. & Simmons, A. 1800 Alford, Samuel 1759 Alford, Thos. 1762 Allen, James 1720 Allen, Robert 1796 Andrews (?), Jr. 174G Andrews, Henry 1796 Anthony, Joseph 1762-1814 J. Anthony (script, in rec- tangle) Anthony, Joseph & Son 1811 Armstrong, John 1811 Ashmead, Wm. 1797 Atherton, Nathan, Jr. 1824 Baily, John 1762 Ball, Wm. 1752 Bartram, Wm. 1769 Berard, Andrew 1797 Best, Joseph 1723 Black, John 1819 Blondell, Anthony 1797 Boudinot, Elias 1747 Bright, Anthony 1740 Brown, John 1796 Bruff, Joseph 1767 Bumm & Shepper 1819 Burdock, Nicholas 1797 Camoin 1797 Campbell, Wm. 1765 Cario, Michael 1736 Cario, W. c. 1740 W. CARIO (in shaped rec- tangle) Carnan, John 1771 Cooke, Joseph 1789 Gumming, David B. 1811 Curry & Preston 1830 David, John 1736-1798 J D (in oval, small); I- DAVID (in oblong); I- DAVID (in rectangle) David, Peter 1738 Davy, Adam 1796 Dickerson, John 1797 Dorsey, Joshua 1797 Dowig, George 1765 Drewry, George 1763 DuBois, A. 1797 DuMorte, John 1796 Dumoutet, I. B. 1797 Dunlevey, Robt. 1787 Dupuy, Daniel 1719-1807 D D (in rectangle) Dupuy, Dan'l, Jr. 1796 England, Wm. 1718 Fletcher, Thomas c. 1830 SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 185 Fletcher & Gardiner Fling, George Ford, Samuel Fraser, Wm. Garret, P. Gee, Joseph Georgeon, Bernard Germon, G. D. Germon, John GhiseUn, Cesar Ghiselin, Wm. Gilley, Peter Grant, Wm. Guirna, Anthony Hackle, Wm. Hall, David Halsted, Benj. HoUingshead, Wm. Houlton, John Howell, James Howell, G. W. (Phila.?) Humphrey, Rich. Humphrey, Thos. Hunt, Edward Hurlbeart, Philip Husband, John Button, John S. Jenkins, John Kucher, Jacob Lamar, Matthias Leacock, John Letelier, John Lewis & Smith Lewis, Harvey Lownes, Edward Lownes, Joseph Lownes, J. & J. H. Lyng, John Marshall, Joseph McFee, John McMullin, John McMuUin & Black Miles, John Milne, Edward Musgrave, James Myers, John Olivier, Peter 1819 1749 1797 1738 1811 1788 1797 1819 1788 c. 1670-1733 C G (in square, with star); CG (in heart-shaped shield) 1751 1797 1796 1796 1766 W H (in rectangle)? 1765 1783 Halsted (script, in shaped rectangle) 1762 1797 1811 c. 1790 G W Howell (script, in rec- tangle) 1771 R. Humphrey (script, in rectangle) 1814 1718 -1764 1796 1684-1792 1796 1811 I KUCHER (in rectangle) 1796 1751 I. LEACOCK (in rectangle), I • L (in rectangle) 1770 1811 Lewis & Smith (script, in irregular oval) 1819 1819 1796 J. LOWNES (in rectangle) 1819 1734 1819 1797 1796 I. McMuUin (in rectangle), I. M., on each side of it; I. McMuUin (in rectangle) 1811 1796 1761 1797 ? (in rectangle) 1796 1797 186 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS Pepper, H. J. c. 1795 H. I. PEPPER (in rectangle) Perkins, Jacob 1766- Perraux, Peter 1797 Pinchin, Wm. 1784 Pitts, Rich. 1741 Pitts (script, in long oblong) Poincignon, Francis 1796 Poissonnier, F. 1797 Polgrain, Quom 1797 Poupard, James 1772 Price, Benj. 1767 Rasch, Anthony 1815 ANTY" RASCH (in rec- tangle) Rasch & Willig 1819 Reeder, Abner 1797 Rich, Joseph 1790 Richards, Samuel 1796 S.' RICHARDS (in rectangle) Richards, T (Phila.?) c. 1790 T. RICHARDS (rectangle) Richards & WiUiamson 1797 Richardson, Francis 1718 Richardson, Joseph 1730 Richardson, Joseph 1796 J.RiCHARDSON (rectangle) Riggs, 1819 Robinson & Harwood 1819 Sacheverell, John 1732 Saint Martin, Anthony- 1796 Seal, Wm. 1819 Shepper, John D. 1819 Shields, Thos. 1765 Shoemaker, Joseph 1796 Simmonds, Andrew 1796 Simmons, Anthony 1796 Skerret, Joseph 1797 Soumaine, Saml. 1765 Syng, Phil. 1676-1739 P S (in square) Syng, Phil. 1703-1789 P S (in shield), with leaf Taylor, Wm. 1772 Thibarult & Co. 1797 Tingley, Saml. 1767 Turner, James 1759 I T (in shaped shield) Tuthill, Christopher 1730 Vanderhaul 1740 VanVoorhis, Daniel 1782 b. V. V. (in rectangle), eagle (in diamond) ; D V (in rec- tangle), eagle (in diamond) Vilant, Wm. 1725 W V (in heart-shaped shield) with fleur-de-hs below Walker, Geo. 1796 Walker, Wm. 1796 Ward, John 1811 WARb,'67 Market St. Ward & Cox 1811 Warner, Joseph 1811 Warner, Samuel 1797 Westphal, C. 1800 C. WESTPHAL (irregular Whartenby, Thom. 1811 rectangle) SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 187 Williams, Samuel 1796 Williamson, Samuel 1796 Willig, Geo. 1819 Wilson, Robt. 1819 Wiltberger, Christian 1793 Wyatt, Jos. 1797 Yettons, Randal 1739 Young, Wm. 1761 Massachusetts (outside of Boston) : Andrew, John 1747- Austin, Ebenezer 1733- Austin, James 1750- Austin, Josiah 1719-1780 Bailey, Loring 1740-1814 Baldwin, Jabez c. 1810 Barrett, S. c. 1760 Bartlett, Samuel c. 1750-1821 C. Wiltberger rectangle) (in shaped 1791 Salem. I-ANDREW (in rec- tangle) •1788(?)Charlestown Beal, Caleb 1746-1801 Boutelle, James 1783 Boylston, E. 1789 Bradbury, Theophilus c. 1815 Bradbury & Bro. c. 1810 Brigden, Z. (Chariest own) 1734-1787 Cleveland, William c. 1790 Coverly, Thomas c. 1730-1800 Davenport, Samuel 1720-1793 Davis, E. 1775 Davis, Samuel 1801 Delano, Jabez 1 763-1 S4S Dexter, John 1735-1800 Easton, James 1828 Edwards, Abraham 1763 Edwards, Calvin 1763 Edwards, Samuel 1726-1783 Farley, Charles 1791-1877 Geffroy, N. c. 1750 Gill, Caleb c. 1790 Charlesto^v^l. J. AUSTIN; LA; I- A (in oval) (Hull \Hingham Salem. BALDWIN (incised) Nantucket Concord. S. BARTLETT (in rectangle); S. BART- LETT (in rectangle), S. B. (script, in rectangle) ; S. B. (script, in rectangle) Hingham Worcester Stockbridge Newburyport Newburyport Z-Brigden (in a cartouche) Z-B (in a rectangle) Salem Newburyport. T. COV- ERLY (in rectangle) Milton Newburyport. E DAVIS (in rectangle), rampant lion (in cartouche); E D (in rec- tangle) lion passant; E D (in rectangle) PljTnouth New Bedford Dedham Marlboro Ashby Ashby Natick Ipswich Mass (?); N. GEFFROY (in engrailed rectangle); GEF- FROY (in serrated rec- tangle) Hingham 188 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS Gill, Leavitt Goodhue, John Gowen, William Grant, Thomas Grant, William Greenleaf, David Hadwen, William Hancock, John Harding, Newell Howard, Abram Hurd, Benjamin Lamson, J. c. 1790 c. 1760? 1749-c. 1803 Hingham Salem. J. GOODHUE rectangle) rCharlestown \Medford (in 1731-1804 1766- 1737- 1820 1732- 1799- 1810 1739- c. 1790 1809 1800 1862 1781 Lincoln, Elijah 1818-1833 Little, William Loring, Joseph 1775 1743-1815 Low, John J, Lynde, Thomas c. 1800-1876 1748-1812 Mansfield, John Morse, Stephen Moulton, Abel Moulton, Joseph, 1 1674 1743- 1815 1680-1756 Moulton, Joseph, 2 c. 1740-1818 Moulton, Joseph, 3 1814-1903 Moulton, WiUiam, 1 1710 Moulton, William, 2 1720-1793 Moulton, Wilham, 3 1772-1861 Munroe, John 1824 Newhall, Dudley c. 1730 Nickerson, Baty c. 1825 Northey, Abijah c. 1760 (?) Norton, Samuel c. 1790 W. GOWEN (in r e c- tangle) ; W G (in rec- tangle) GRANT (in Marblehead. rectangle) Marblehead Bolton Nantucket Charlestown. J. HANCOCK (in rectangle) Haverhill Salem Roxbury. B H (arrow? be- tween, in a rectangle) Mass.(?) J. LAMSON (in rectangle); J L. (in rec- tangle) Hingham. E. Lincoln (in rectangle) Newburyport Hull. J. LORING (in car- touche); J. Loring (script, in rectangle) Salem Worcester. T. LYNDE (in rectangle) Charlestown, 1634 Newbury Newburyport Newburyport. J. M (in en- grailed rectangle); I M (script, in rectangle); I M (script monogram, in oval) , I M (in rectangle); I. MOULTON (in rectangle) Newburyport Newburyport Newburyport. W. MOUL- T O N (in rectangle); MOULTON (in rectangle); MOULTON (incised) Newburyport Newburyport Barnstable. I. MUNROE (in serrated rectangle) Salem Harwich Salem. A N (in rectangle) Hingham SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 189 Osgood, J. 1817 (?) Salem Parker, Isaac 1780 Deerfield Perkins, Houghton 1735-c. 177 7 Taunton Perkins, Isaac c. 1707-1737 Chariest own Perkins, Jacob 1766- Newburypoft Phillips, Samuel 1658-c. 1722 Salem Pierpont, Benjamin 1730-1797 Roxbury. PIERPONT (in shaped oval); B-P (in rectangle) ; B PIERPONT (in shaped oval) Prince, Job 1680-1708 Hull Putnam, Edward 0. 1810 Salem Quincy, Daniel 1651- Braintree Sanderson, Robert, Jr. 1652-1714 Watertown Shreve, Benjamin 1813-1896 Salem Stevens & Lakeman 1825 Salem Stickney, Jonathan 0. 1796 Newburyport Swan, Caleb 1754-1816 Charlestown Swan, Robert 1775 Worcester. R SWAN (in rectangle) Swan, William 1715-1774 Titcomb, Francis 1813 Newburyport Touzell, John c. 1726-1785 Salem Connecticut and Rhode Island: Adams, Pygan 1712-1776 Adgate, Wm. 1744-1779 Allen, Joel Arnold, Thomas 1750' Atterbury, J. 1799 Austin, John c. 1770 Austin, Josci)h 1719- Avery, John 1732-1794 Avery, Robert Staunton 1771-1846 Baldwin & Baker C.1817 Barrett, S. c. 1760 Bartholomew, Roswell c. 1780-1830 Beach, Miles 1742-1828 1771 1785 Beach & Sanford 1785 Beach & Ward 1789-1797 Beebe, Stanton 1818 Beecher, Clement 1801 Benjamin, Barzillai 1774-1844 Benjamin, John c. 1750 Benjamin, Samuel C. 1S19 Billings, Daniel 1795 New London, Conn. P. A. (crowned, in rectangle); P. A. (in rectangle). Norwich Middletown, Conn. Newport, R. I. T-A (in rec- tangle); ARNOLD and T- A (script, in rectangle); ARNOLD (in rectangle) New Haven, Conn. Hartford, Conn. Hartford, Conn. Preston, Conn. Preston, Conn. Providence, R. I. Providence, R. I. Hartford, Conn. Goshen Litchfield Hartford Hartford Hartford Providence, R. I, Berlin, Conn. Milford, Conn. Bridgeport, Conn. New Haven, Conn. Stratford, Conn. LB (in oval) New Haven, Conn. Preston, Conn. 190 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS Bontecou, Timothy 1693-1784 Bontecou, Timothy, Jr. 1723-1789 ; Botsford, Gideon B. 1776-1866 Bradford, Charles H. Bradley, Aner' 1753-1824 Bradley, Luther 1798 Bradley, Phineas 1745-1797 : Bradley, Richard 1825 Bradley, Zebul 1806 Brainard, Charles 1809 Breed, John 1776 ' Breed, W. c. 1755(?) Brewer, Charles 1803 Brewer & Mann 1804 Brewster, Abel ri797 \1804 Brown, Elnathan C. Buel, Abel 1742-1825 Buel, John 1783 Buel, Samuel /1777 \1779 Bull, Caleb 1791 Bull, Martin 1744-1825 Bunker, Benjamin 1810 Burdick, William S. Burnap, Daniel 1791 Burr, Christopher 1824 Burr, Ezekiel 1764-1846 Burr, William 1792 Bushnell, Phineas 1775 Canfield, Samuel 1780-1800 Carpenter, Joseph 1747-1804 Case, George 1779 Casey, Gideon 1753 Casey, Samuel c. 1724-c. 1770 Champlin, John 1745-1800 Chapin, Aaron 1825 Chittenden, Ebenezer 1726-1812 Church, Joseph 1794-1876 Church & Rogers 1828 Clark, Charles 1798 Clark, George C. 1813 Clark, I. c. 1757- Clark, Joseph 1791 Clark, Peter G. 1810 Clark, Wm. 1774 Clark, James 1734 Clarke, J. 1734 Cleveland, Wm. 1770-1837 New Haven, Conn. New Haven, Conn. Woodbury, Conn. Westerly, R. I. New Haven, Conn. New Haven, Conn. New Haven, Conn. New Haven, Conn. Hartford, Conn. Colchester, Conn. Conn.(?) W. Breed (script) and W.B (in rectangles) Middletown, Conn. C. BREWER (script, in car- touche) Middletown, Conn. Canterbury, Conn. Norwich, Conn. Westerly, R. I. New Haven, Conn. New Haven, Conn. Middletown IS. B (in rec- Hartford / tangle) Hartford, Conn. Farmington, Conn. Providence, R. I. New Haven, Conn. E. Windsor, Conn. Providence, R. I. Providence, R. I. Providence, R. I. Guilford, Conn. Middletown, Conn. CAN- FIELD (in long oval) Norwich, Conn. E. Hartford, Conn. South Kingston, R. I. Newport, R. I. S: CASEY (in rectangle) New London, Conn. Hartford, Conn. Guilford, Conn. E C (in oval) Hartford, Conn. Hartford, Conn. New Haven, Conn. Providence, R. I. Conn.(?) I. CLARK (in rectangle) Danbury, Conn. New Haven, Conn. New Milford, Conn. Newport, R. I. Newport, R. I. I. Clarke (in large oval) Norwich, Conn. SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 191 Coit & Mansfield 1816 Collins, Arnold 1690 Copp, J. 1776 Crandall, Benjamin 1824 Curtis, Candee & Stiles c. 1820 Curtis, Lewis 1797 Cutler, Richard 1736-1810 Cutler, Richard & Sons 1806 Dagget, Henry 1800 Davis & Babbitt c. 1815 Davison, Barzillai 1738-1828 Denis, Ebenezer 1772-1785 Denis, George, Jr. 1775 Deshon, Daniel 1697-1781 Dodge, Ezra 1766-1798 Dodge, Nehemiah 1794 Dodge, Seril 1795 Doolittle, Amos 1754-1832 Doolittle, Enos 1781 Douglas, Robert 1769 Elderkin, Alfred 1792 Elderkin, Elisha / 1753-1 822 \1777 Elliot, John A. 1815 Ellsworth, David 1742-1821 Fairchild, Joseph 1824 Fairchild, Robert 1703-1794 Fifield, John S. Fitch, Allen 1808' ' Fitch & Hobart 1812 Foot, William 1796 Frost & Mumford c. 1810 Gardner, John 1734-1776 Gibbs, John c. 1815 Gilbert, Samuel 1798 Goodwin, Horace 1828 Goodwin, H. & A. 1825 Goodwin, Ralph 1828 Goodwin & Dodd 1812 Gorham, Jabez 1792- Gorham, John 1820- Gorham, Miles 1757-1847 Graham, Daniel 1789 Gray, John 1692-1720 Gray, Samuel 1684-1713 Greene, Williams & Co. c. 1815 Greenleaf, David 1737-1800 Greenleaf, Joseph 1778-1798 Grignon, Rene 1708 Norwich, Conn. Newport, R. I. A C (in shield) New London, Conn. Providence, R. I. Woodbury, Conn. Farmington, Conn. New Haven, Conn. New Haven, Conn. New Haven, Conn. Providence, R. I. Norwich, Conn. Hartford, Conn. Norwich, Conn. New London, Conn. New London, Conn. Providence, R. I. Providence, R. I., S. DODGE (serrated rectangle) star incised each side New Haven, Conn. Hartford, Conn. New London, Conn. Windham, Conn. Killing^vorth, Conn. New Haven, Conn. Sharon, Conn. Windsor, Conn, New Haven, Conn. Stratford, Conn. Westerly, R. I. New Haven, Conn. New Haven, Conn. East Haddam, Conn. Providence, R. I. New London, Conn. J. GARDNER (in rectangle) Providence, R. I. J. GIBBS (in rectangle) Hebron, Conn. Hartford, Conn. Hartford, Conn. Hartford, Conn. Hartford, Conn. Providence, R. I. Providence, R. L New Haven, Conn. West SufTield, Conn. New London, Conn. New London, Conn. Providence, R. I. (Norwich, Conn. \Hartford, Conn. New London, Conn. Norwich, Conn. 192 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS Gurley, Wm. 1804 Hallam, John 1773 Hamlin, Wm. 1772- Hancock, John 1772 Hanks, Benjamin 1779 Harland, Thomas 1735- 1807 Harland, Thomas, Jr. 1806 Hart, Eliphaz 1812 Hart, Judah 1777 Hart & Brewer 1803 Hart & Wilcox 1805 Hilldrup, Thomas 1772- Hitchcock, Ehakim 1766- Hobart, Joshua 1813 Hookey, Wm. c. 1750 Hopkins, Jesse 1766- Hopkins, Joseph 1730- 1801 Hopkins, Stephen 1721- •1796 Hotchkiss, Hezekiah 1761 Hughes, Edward 1804 Huntington, Philip 1770- ■1825 Huntington, Roswell 1763 Jenckes, John C. 1785 Johonnot, Wm. 1766- 1849 Kelley, Allen c. 1810 Kelley, E. G. & J. H. c. 1820 King, Joseph 1770 Kinney, Thomas c. 1825 Kippen, George 1790 Kirtland, Joseph P. 1796 Lathrop, Rufus ■1805 Lewis, Isaac 1815 Mann, Alexander 1804 Mansfield, Elisha H. 1816 Marble, Simeon 1806 Merriman, Marcus 1767- 1820 Merriman, Marcus & Co. 1806 Merriman, Reuben 1783- 1866 Merriman, Samuel 1794 Merriman, Silas 1734- 1805 Merriman & Bradley 1817 Merriman & Tuttle 1802 Merrow, Nathan 1783 Mumford, Henry G. 1813 Munson, Amos 1776 Munson, Cornelius 1742- Newberry, Edwin C. 1828 Nichols, Bassett c. 1815 Nichols, Wm. S. 1785- 1871 Norton, Andrew 1765- 1838 Norwich, Conn. New London, Conn. r Providence, R. I. \Middletown, Conn. Providence, R. I. Windham, Conn. Norwich, Conn. Norwich, Conn. Norwich, Conn. Berlin, Conn. Middletown, Conn. Norwich, Conn. Hartford, Conn. New Haven, Conn. New Haven, Conn. Newport, R. I. Waterbury, Conn. Waterbury, Conn. Waterbury, Conn. New Haven, Conn. Hampton, Conn. Norwich, Conn. Norwich, Conn. Providence, R. I. J JENCKES (incised) Middletown, Conn. Providence, R. I. Providence, R. I. Middletown, Conn. Norwich, Conn. Middletown, Conn. Middletown, Conn. Norwich, Conn. Ridgefield, Conn. Middletown, Conn. Norwich, Conn. New Haven, Conn. Cheshire, Conn. M M (in rectangle) New Haven, Conn. M : M : & CO (serrated rectangle) Litchfield, Conn. New Haven, Conn. New Haven, Conn. New Haven, Conn. New Haven, Conn. East Hartford, Conn. Providence, R. I. New Haven, Conn. Wallingford, Conn. /Mansfield, Conn. \ Brooklyn, Conn. Providence, R. I. Newport, R. I. Goshen, Conn. SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 193 Norton, Thomas 1796 Noyes, Samuel 1747- Oaks, Frederick 1825 Oaks & Spencer 1814 Olmstead, Nathaniel 1826 1750 Otis, Jonathan 1766-1791 Parmele, Samuel 1737-1807 Parmelee, James 1763-1828 Peabody, John 1779 Peck, Timothy 1791 Perry, Thomas Pitkin, Henry isii" Pitkin, John 0. 1803 Pitkin, Walter 1808 Pitkins, James F. 1812 Pitman, Saunders 1732-1804 Pitman, John K. 1805 Pitman & Darrance 1795 Post, Samuel (1736 1,1783 Potter, Niles Potwine & Whiting i735" Pratt, Phineas 1772 Prince, Job 1680-1708 Quintard, Peter 1737 Richmond, G. & A. c. 1815 Roath, Roswell Walston 1805 Rogers, Daniel 1750 Rogers, Wm. 1825 Russell, Jonathan 1804 Sackett & Willard c. 1815 Sadd, Hervey 1776-1840 Sanford, Isaac 1793 Sargeant, Jacob /1761-1843 \1795 Shcthar, Samuel 1795 Shethar & Thompson 1798 Shipman, Nathaniel 1764-1853 Sib ey & Marble 1802 Staniford, John 1790 Stanton, Enoch 1745-1781 Stanton, Daniel 1755-1781 Farmington, Conn. Norwich, Conn. Hartford, Conn. Hartford, Conn. New Haven, Conn. Newport, R. I. J. Otis (large script in rectangle) and Otis (small script in rec- tangle); OTIS (large, in rectangle); J. Otis (script, in oval) Middletown, Conn. Guilford, Conn. S. Parmele (in shaped rectangle) Durham, Conn. Enfield, Conn. Middletown, Conn. Westerly, R. I. Hartford, Conn. Hartford, Conn. Hartford, Conn. Hartford, Conn. Providence, R. I. PITMAN (in rectangle); Pitman (script in rectangle) Providence, R. I. Providence, R. I. Norwich, Conn. New London, Conn. Westerly, R. I. Hartford, Conn. Lynne, Conn. INIilford, Conn. Norwalk, Conn. P. 4 (in square) ; P Q (in square) Providence, R. I. Norwich, Conn. Newport, R. I. D R (in car- touche); D. ROGERS (in rectangle) ; D R (in shajjed shield) Hartford, Conn. Ashford, Conn. Providence, R. I. New Hartford, Conn. Hartford, Conn. Mansfield, Conn. Hartford, Conn. Litchfield, Conn. Litchfield, Conn. Norwich, Conn. New Haven, Conn. Windham, Conn. Stonington, Conn. Stonington, Conn. 19-4 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS Stanton, Zebulon Stillman, Barton Stillman, Paul iStillman, William Sutton, Robert Tanner, John Terry, Geer Thompson, Isaac Tilley, James Tompkins, Edmimd Tracy, Erastus Tracy, Gurdon Trott, Jonathan Trott, Jonathan, Jr. Trott, John Proctor Trott & Brooks Trott & Cleveland Tuttle, Bethuel Ufford & Burdick Veazie, Joseph Vernon, Samuel 1753-1828 1767-1858 1825 1750 1814 1798 1740-1792 1757- 1768-1798 1767-1792 1734-1815 1771-1803 1769-1852 1798 1792 1806 1814 1815 1683-1737 Vinton, David 1792 Wallace Wm F Walworth, Daniel 1785' Ward, Bilhous 1729- ■1777 Ward, James 1768- •1856 Ward, WiUiam 1736- 1829 Ward & Bartholomew 1804 Ward, Bartholomew & Brainard 1809 Wardin, Daniel 1811 Weeden, Peleg c. 1803 Welles, George 1784- •1827 Wheaton, Caleb 1784- •1827 Wheaton, Calvin 1790 Whipple, Arnold 1825 Whitaker & Greene c. 1825 White, Amos 1773 Whitting, Charles 1725- -1765 Wilcox, Alvan 1816 Wilcox, Cyprian 1827 WilUams, iDeodat 1775 WiUiams, Stephen 1799 Wilmot, Samuel, Jr. 1808 Wilmot & Stillman 1800 Stonington, Conn. Westerly, R. I. Westerly, R. I. Hopkinton, R. I. New Haven, Conn. Newport, R. I. Enfield, Conn. Litchfield, Conn. Hartford, Conn. Waterbury, Conn. Norwich, Conn. Norwich, Conn. New London, Conn. J. TROTT (in cartouche) New London, Conn. New London, Conn. J: P. TROTT (in long oval); J. P. T. (in serrated rec- tangle) New London, Conn. New London, Conn. New Haven, Conn. New Haven, Conn. Providence, R. I. Newport, R. I. S V (in heart- shaped shield, trefoil be- low); S V (in heart, fleur- de-lis below); S V (in heart-shaped shield, cross below) Providence, R. I. Westerly, R. I. Middletown, Conn. Guilford, Conn. BW (in rec- tangle) Guilford, Conn. Litchfield, Conn. Hartford, Conn. Hartford, Conn. Bridgeport, Conn. North Kingston, R. I. Hebron, Conn. Providence, R. I. Providence, R. I. Providence, R. I. Providence, R. L Haddam Landing, Conn. Norwich, Conn. Norwich, Conn. New Haven, Conn. Hartford, Conn. Providence, R.I. New Haven, Conn. New Haven, Conn. SILVER; DOMESTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 195 Woodward, Antipas 1791 Middletown, Conn. Woodward, Eli 1812 Hartford, Conn. Yeomans, Elijah 1794 Hartford, Conn. Young, Ebenezer 1778 Hebron, Conn. Other Places: Adam, J. Alexandria, D. C. Addison, George M. isoi' ' Baltimore, Md. Aitkins, W. 1802 Baltimore, Md. Austin, Benjamin 1775 Portsmouth, N. H. Baielle, Lewis 1799 Baltimore, Md. Balch & Fryer 1784 Albany, N. Y. Baldwin, Jedediah c. 1790 Hanover, N. H. Ball, W. 1802 Baltimore, Md. Barry, Standish 1790 Baltimore, Md. Becker, Philip 1764 Lancaster, Pa. Bedford, John c. 1785 FishkiU, N. Y. 1 Bedford (script, in rectangle) Benjamin, Solomon 1817 Baltimore, Md. Bevan, Richard 1804 Baltimore, Md. Blanchard, A. c. 1800 Lexington, Ky. A. BLAN- CHARD (in long oval) Boehme, Charles L. 1804 Baltimore, Md. Boyd, William 1810 Albany, N. Y. Brigden, Timothy 1813 Albany, N. Y. Brown & Houlton c. 1799 Baltimore, Md. Burot, Andrew 1824 Baltimore, Md. Bnssey, Thomas 1799 Baltimore, Md. Butler, John 1763 Fahnouth (Portland), Me. Butler, N. 1803 Utica, N. Y. Campbell, R. 1824 Baltimore, Md. Carson, Thomas 1813 Albany, N. Y. Carson & Hall 1813 Albany, N. Y. Coleman, Nathaniel 1790 Burlington, N. J. Daverne, John 1799 Baltimore, Md. Dickerson, John 1778 Morristow^n, N. J. Douglas, Cantwell 1799 Baltimore, Md. Drowne, Benjamin 1800 Portsmouth, N. H. Drowne, Samuel 1749-1815 Portsmouth, N. H. S x Drowne (in rectangle) ; S X D (in rectangle) Drown, T. P. c. 1805 Portsmouth (?) T. P. DROWN (in rectangle) Erwin, John 1817 Baltimore, Md. Evertson, John 1813 Albany, N. Y. Farley, Charles 1812 Portland, Me. Flott, Lewis 1817 Baltimore, Md. Folsom, John 1781 Albany, N. Y. Forman, B. B. 1813 Albany, N. Y. Franciscus, George 1817 Baltimore, Md. Gerrish, Timothy 1753-1813 Portsmouth, N. H. Hall, Abijah 1813 Albany, N. Y. Hall, Charles 1765 Lancaster, Pa. Hall, Joseph 1781 Albany, N. Y. Ham, George 1810 Portsmouth, N. H. 196 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS Hamilton, James 1766 Holland, Littleton c. 1804 Holton, David 1804 How, David 1805 Howard, Thomas 1620 Howe, Otis 1817 Huges, Christopher & Co. 1773 Hull, John 1624 Hurtin & Burgi 1766 Huston, James 1799 Hutton, Isaac 1767- 1683 1855 Hyde & Goodrich 1830 Jackson, James c. 1775 Jackson, Joseph 1804 Jacobs, George 1802 Johonnot, William 1766- Johnson, M. W. 1815 Kenrick, Anwill c. 1775 Kirk, Samuel c. 1815 Kirk, Samuel & Sons 1817 Le Ret, Peter c. 1799 Lewin, Gabriel 1771 Mix, James 1817 Moore, Robert c. 1775 Moulton, Enoch 1780 Ogier, John 1799 Parker, George 1804 Phelps, Jedediah 1781 Poncet, Lewis Reeves, Stephen 1767 Roe, W. 1803 Sadtler, Philip 1824 Sardo, Michael 1817 Scofield, Solomon 1815 Shepherd, Robert c. 1800 Simes, WiUiam 1800 Sheets 1697 Smith, John and Thomas 1817 Stall, Joseph 1804 Stone, Adam 1804 TenEyck, John c. 1730 Truax, Henry R. 1815 Van Bergen, John 1813 Vincent, Richard 1799 Warner, Andrew E. 1811 Warner, A. E. & T. H. 1805 Warner, Thomas H. 1814 Webb, Barnabas c. 1729- Wedge, S. 1804 Wilson, Hosea 1817 Wright, Alexander c. 1775 1849 Annapolis, Md. Baltimore, Md. Baltimore, Md. Castine, Me. Jamestown, Va. Portsmouth, N. H. Baltimore, Md. England Bound Brook, N. J. Baltimore, Md. Albany, N. Y. HUTTON (in rectangle, eagle in cir- cle); HUTTON (in rec- tangle, eagle's head in oval) New Orleans, La. Maryland Baltimore, Md. Baltimore, Md. Windsor, Vt. Albany, N. Y. Maryland Baltimore, Md. Baltimore, Md. Baltimore, Md. Baltimore, Md. Albany, N. Y. Maryland, Portland, Me. Baltimore, Md. Baltimore, Md. Great Barrington, Vt. Baltimore, Md. BurUngton, N. J. Kingston-on-Hudson Baltimore, Md. Baltimore, Md. Albany, N. Y. Albany, N. Y. Portsmouth, N. H. Henrico, Va. Baltimore, Md. Baltimore, Md. Baltimore, Md. Albany, N. Y. IT (in oval)? Albany, N. Y. Albany, N. Y. Baltimore, Md. Baltimore, Md. A. E. WAR- NER (in rectangle) Baltimore, Md. Baltimore, Md. -c. 1786 Thomaston, Me. Baltimore, Md. Baltimore, Md. Maryland CHAPTER VII EARLY AMERICAN PEWTER PEWTER is coming- into its own again. It is win- ning its new place in our esteem not merely as the object of a passing fad, but through a rational recognition of its many estimable qualities. Down the centuries from Roman days— in the East from a much earlier period, probably — it has enjoyed a measure of popularity in proportion to the varied scope of its em- ployment. Its vogue has waxed and waned and waxed again, from time to time, with the passing whims of fashion, but its genuinely useful qualities always pre- served for it a sure place among the resources of domestic equipment until our unfortunate forebears, whose lot it was to pass through the deadly doldrums of smug Victorian artificiality and ugly dulness, learned to look on it with contempt, along with some other things that had previously, and have since, been rated for their intrinsic worth or beauty rather than by "how much they cost, ' ' and relegated it to the garret or cellar or to any base use that chance might suggest. With a return to more rational standards of judg- ment, we have once more begun to heed the claims of pewter to our consideration, and, though we are apt to regard it chiefly as a decorative asset, its utilitarian aspect has not been wholly overlooked. While direct- ing our admiration pewterward, it is gratifying to find that our own early American pewter was possessed of no mean merit and, in many instances, was not behind the product of the 'British pewterers in point of design, quality of the metal, or excellence of workmanship. 197 198 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS Some of the early American pewter has furnished pat- terns for modern emulation, and the suspicion is not wanting that the reproducer occasionally sends forth a crop of brand-new antiques. A survey of the chief characteristics of early American pewter, therefore, will be of use both to the professional collector and to the amateur, who may delight now and then in picking up a choice piece in the course of travel or in poking about in provincial second-hand or antique shops, where many a rich find is often made. It will be of use, also, to the reviver of crafts to know exactly what the old American pewter w^as like and wherein its points of excellence consisted. Pewter was in great demand in the Colonies all through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and also during the early part of the nineteenth. In nearly every household it took the place that was afterwards filled by either silver or porcelain, and, even in the houses of the wealthier colonists, w^here both silver and china in considerable quantities were possessed and treasured for use upon state occasions, pewter occupied an important place in ordinary daily use. Although much of the pewter used in the earlier part of the Colonial period, and indeed during a good part of the eighteenth century, was.brought from Eng- land, a great deal was made by enterprising craftsmen among the colonists. When we find that silversmiths began to ply their calling with success before 1650, it is not to be wondered at that pewterers should have done the same, especially as they had a far more universal demand to supply with their wares, and accordingly we learn of at least one pewterer at work in Boston as early as 1639. EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY PEWTER COFFEE POT Courtesy of Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art EIGHTEENTH CENTURY PEWTER SUGAR BOWL AND CREAM PITCHER Courtesy of Jolin C Nip|)es, Esq., Haddonficld, Now Jersey LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY PEWTER TEAPOT In possession of Harold D. Eberlein, Esq. PEWTER PLATTER AND PEWTER BASON, EIGHTEENTH CENTURY Courtesy of Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art EARLY AMERICAN PEWTER 199 Boston, during the first part of the Colonial period, was the chief distributing centre of British pewter, as well as the chief seat of pewter manufacture. New York and Philadelphia soon followed in both respects, and a great deal of pewter ware, excellent in design and in the quality of metal, was produced in each of those cities, although the variety in design was not as great, perhaps, as in the pieces sent from England. The speci- mens illustrated are chiefly of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia make. Good pewter ware was made in other places, to be sure, but the characteristic types are to be judged from the products of those three places, which are thoroughly representative. The local and distinctive peculiarities of American pewter are better learned by sight than by description, and for this pur- pose the collections in museums are invaluable, as they afford opportunities for minute comparison and study. The making of pewter ware was not wholly confined to craftsmen whose time was altogether given up to this occupation. Not a little of the small moulded ware, such as spoons and other objects that soon wore out with constant use, was cast by amateurs, and this home- made aspect of the subject lends an additional note of interest. The possessor of a mould would lend it to his neighbours all through the village or countryside as they had occasion to use it, and the comparative ease with which the alloy was prepared and managed made it a simple matter for them to replenish their stock as it became unfit for further use. This practice was quite in accord with the Colonial spirit of self-helping re- sourcefulness. It was also a common practice, at a time when so many things that we now buy in shops were made by travelling craftsmen and artisans at the 200 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS farmstead, for tinkers who owned pewter moulds to make a yearly round of visits and cast, on the spot, what was needed by their customers. NATURE AND VARIETIES OF PEWTER Definitions are always helpful in enabling us to know exactly Avhere we stand, and, before going into further considerations, it will be well to state that pewter is an alloy of which the preponderating com- ponent is tin. The other elements entering into the composition are various and, at different times and places, have been used in varying proportions, but, ordinarily speaking, lead is the principal secondary substance. Sometimes, however, in preparing the alloy, lead has been altogether omitted and its place has been taken by copper. A broad definition, by Mr. Starkie Gardner, of the character of the allov observes that ''The proportions are so variable that it is scarcely possible to exclude any in which tin forms the bulk, where the result is a darkish silvery, soft metal, fusible at a low temperature, and eminently adapted to a variety of household and artistic purposes." In American-made pewter, lead, for the most part, was the secondary element. The relative proportions of tin and lead, however, varied considerably. The finer the pewter and the higher the percentage of tin, occasionally with a slight admixture of brass entering into the composition, the whiter, harder and more sil- very the surface. On the other hand, a large percentage of lead gave the surface of the pewter a dark or bluish tone lacking the brilliance and lustre of that of superior quality. The proportion of tin sometimes ran as high as ninety per centum, or even more. At the other end EARLY AMERICAN PEWTER 201 of the scale, lead in excess of twenty-five per centum was now and again employed. As may be readily imagined, this variation caused the widest diversity in (juality and appearance of differ- ent pieces of old pewter. A surplus of lead in the alloy will account for the dull, dark surface, often badly scarred and eroded, of many pieces that turn up in antique shops. It is useless to try to make these take on the same soft, mellow sheen, the same satiny surface of polished silver as seen on pewter ware made from a superior quality of alloy. It is only really good pewter, with a high percentage of tin and a low percentage of other components, that can be expected to exhibit the delightful patina somewhat comparable to that of old hand-wrought silver. In England a high standard of pewter metal and pewter workmanship was maintained by the Pe\^i;erers ' Company in London and by other similar organisations in different parts of the kingdom. The members were required to observe certain regulations and preserve an alloy of approved proportions. It was also customary to apply touch-marks, analogous to the hall-marks upon silver plate, and the name of the maker. Although the regulations of the pewterers' guilds were not so rigorously enforced by legislation and penalties as were the regulations governing silversmiths, and although many pieces were debased in recasting through the agency of unscrupulous itinerant tinkers and pedlars, public opinion and the moral force of the authorised craft guilds served to keep the average purity of the metal and the average quality of workmanship up to a fairly satisfactory level. In America there was no compulsory standard of 202 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS excellence to be observed as a gauge, as there usually was on the other side of the Atlantic, and the only restraining influence for preserving a high quality of metal came from respect for tradition and the pew- terer's sense of common honesty, along with shrewd discrimination on the part of the buyer, and the seller's knowledge that his wares were made in competition with the imported pewter and that an obvious disparity in metal or workmanship must inevitably damage his trade. So far as statutory restrictions were concerned, any tinker who had the necessary moulds was free to mix his alloy and make his wares as he chose, without regard to fixed and compelling regulations. Under the circumstances, it is not to be wondered at that the metal in some of the home-made pewter w^as of poor quality. ARTICLES MADE Articles of pewter may in general be classified under the heads of ''sad ware" and "hollow-ware." Sad ware included such flat or slightly concave pieces as were wrought into the required shape by hammering them from a flat sheet of metal. The word ''sad" in this connexion probably refers to the quality of the metal used, which was what was technically known as "fine pewter," an alloy of tin "satiated" or "sat- urated" with as much copper as "of its own nature it will take." The alloy of tin and copper was especially ductile and readily lent itself to the process of shaping with the hammer. Under the head of flat ware or sad ware are numbered platters, chargers, large plates, trenchers, trays, or such dishes as could be fashioned without casting in a mould. " Hollow- ware " is a term sufficiently obvious as EARLY AMERICAN PEWTER 203 designating bowls, tankards, mugs (Fig. 1, B), pitchers, and all other concaved or hollow pieces. Hollow-ware articles and many small plates were cast in moulds, sometimes in as many as three or four pieces, which had to be built up and soldered together. The articles made in pewter embraced a long list, comprising numerous items of domestic equipment tliat have been made of silver, glass, porcelain, pottery, or some other material since pewter making declined in the early years of the nineteenth century. Besides the T? ■ K'°-.u-r,A', Tankard by William Wills. Philadelphia, early nineteenth centurv Friahmutii Collection Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industril Art B AJe MugbyParksBoyd.Philadalphia, 1800-1812. "' ^ri,. «, Ale Courtesy of Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. pewter for domestic use, there were pewter vessels for ecclesiastical purposes. Church vessels included chalices, patens, beakers, flagons or tankards, alms dishes, and baptismal bowls. Some of the pewter church sets, and also the later Britannia sets, may still be found in use in remote rural churches, or, if their place has been taken by more recently acquired silver vessels, they are usually preserved for association's sake, although this is not invariably the case. The writers remember some years ago to have picked up 204 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS in a Massachusetts coast town what purported to be the baptismal bowl of the old First Church of Cohasset. It was a bowl of singularly graceful contour, raised on a pedestal, and closely resembled a fruit dish. The pieces of domestic pewter most usually found in America are articles of table-ware and include salt cel- lars, which are for the most part early and follow the old English pattern of the circular or trencher salt; mugs or cans; tankards (Fig. 1, A) or flagons; pitchers and jugs ; porringers ; plates, platters, and chargers ; dishes ; bowls; teapots and coffee pots (Fig. 2, A and B) ; Fig. 2. — A, Coffee Pot by Boardman & Co., New York, o. 1830. E, Teapot by Boardman & Hall, Philadelphia, c. 1825. Courtesy of Pennsylvania Museum and School of IndustrialArt. creamers and sugar bowls and butter dishes. The writers understand that forks were sometimes made of pewter, but they have never seen any. Spoons, both large and small, are of common occurrence. Besides all these, which may be found in considerable numbers, there were other pieces of table-ware that seem not to have been manufactured quite so extensively, or, at any rate, they have not so numerously survived the ravages of time. Among them may be mentioned soup tureens, chocolate pots, saucers, sifters, hot-water dishes, egg cups, pepper shakers, mustard pots, and tea-caddies. EARLY AMERICAN PEWTER 205 The miscellaneous articles not to be included in table-ware are ladles, canisters, boxes for spices, powder, and the like, tobacco boxes, trays and salvers, buckles, ink pots, measures (Fig. 3, B), vases and ewers and basons. Some of these, such as measures and basons, are frequently to be met with ; others, such as buckles and spice boxes, are to be found only occa- sionally. One old pewter bason, known to the writers, was used until almost the end of the nineteenth century for the ablutions of guests' hands at the pump in the garden of a distinguished old country house in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia where primitive Colo- nial customs were maintained unchanged by the march of modern fashion. Candlesticks are fairly numerous, and lamps, with one or more burners, are of quite com- mon occurrence. The latter are distinctively American pieces (Fig. 4, A and B ; Fig. 3, A). PROCESSES AND ALLOYS Pewter ware was fashioned by (1) hammering, (2) by casting in moulds, or (3) by a combination of both processes. It was finished either (1) by hand or else (2) by turning and burnishing on a lathe The equipment of tools and appliances required was comparatively simple. It included moulds, a lathe, a swage, hammer, burnishers, gouges, chisels, hooks, point tools, a spear grater, and a spear burnisher. The qualities of pewter employed were designated by three names : fine pewter, or the best quality, which ''consisted of tin, with the addition of as much brass or copper as the tin could take up." Of this were gen- erally made platters, chargers, and articles that were square, ribbod, or fluted. The second quality ''con- sisted of tin and lead in the ratio of 112 : 26 and was 206 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS used for articles more or less round in shape." The third quality was called trifle, much used for common tankards and mugs, and was ''sometimes made with nearly forty per centum of lead." Ley-metal, lea, or lay was common pewter, or pewter below the prescribed standard of purity. When antimony was used instead of lead, the alloy was harder and more brittle. More than twenty per centum of lead darkened the alloy and produced a bluish tinge. Good Britannia metal, consisting of a high per- centage of tin with a small quantity of antimony and a iif Fig. 3. A, Fluid Lamp with single wick. B, Measure, Philadelphia made, early nineteenth century. Friahmuth Collection, Pennsylvania Museum and School of In- dustrial Art. still smaller quantity of copper, is really pewter of excellent quality. The most expensive part of the pewterer 's outfit and the most troublesome to make was the set of moulds. The most durable and generally satisfactory were made of gun-metal. They would last indefinitely, and there are some still in use after more than a century of ser- vice. They are in good condition, just as are the old wood l)locks made in the seventeenth century for print- ing fabrics, some of which are now being used again for the stamping of modern linens. Moulds could also EARLY AMERICAN PEWTER 207 be made of plaster of Paris, although they were not very durable ; of lithographic stone or, finally, fashioned in sand. As mentioned, the more elaborate moulds were often made in three or four separate pieces, and the articles moulded in them were moulded in separate parts. In England a set of moulds would often be the common property of a pewterers ' guild, and they were either lent or hired to the members as they needed them. Fia. 4. A, Fluid Lamp on stock. B, Fluid Lamp with handle. Frishmuth Collection, Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. Before casting, the moulds were prepared inside with white of egg and red ochre or with finely powdered pumice. After removal, the roughened surface of the article cast was smoothed by turning and finishing on a lathe. If it was possible to do so, each article was cast in a single piece. This was an easy enough matter in the case of small objects of simple shape ; where the shape was complicated, however, it was necessary to cast the 208 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS piece in sections and then build it up. For example, a jug with a wide belly and narrowing top would have to be cast in two or three pieces, which would be built up by soldering, and then the handle would also be soldered on. Large dishes, chargers, and platters were made by liammering from a piece of metal, previously rolled into a sheet, and fashioned on a swage. The hammering process firmed and stiffened the body of the metal and gave it an exceedingly smooth surface. In addition to the two processes of hammering and casting in moulds, by which latter most articles were made, spinning on a lathe w^as also practised in some instances, and the final treatment was given on an anvil. Many of the best plates were thus cast and turned, and the hammer marks of the finishing process are plainly visible on the underneath side of the cur\^e. These ham- mer marks are in concentric circles, just as are the hammer marks on the outside curve of the bowls. Burnishing was done while the article w^as revolving rapidly on the lathe. TOUCH-MARKS AND MARKING The practice of marking pewter with the maker's touch or mark w^as observed in England from a very early date. In addition to the touch or mark — a dis- tinctive device to be used by only one person — the maker at times stamped his initials or even his whole name. The Pewterers' Company of London made various regTilations about the name of the individual pewterer, so that sometimes it was allowable to stamp it and sometimes not. The mark X was used to denote metal of especially fine quality. In addition, the cor- porate mark of the Pew^terers ' Company appeared. EARLY AMERICAN PEWTER 209 In America there was no corporation to regulate the making of pewter, and the business conduct and prac- tices of the pewterers, and the placing of touch-marks upon American pewter was, therefore, merely a trans- ference of an English custom without any particular significance in this country beyond attesting a respect for tradition. American pewter, like American silver, is often unmarked, and thus, at times, occasions embar- rassment in identification. A great deal of the pewter, however, bears the touch-mark of the maker, with his name or initials and, sometimes, the place of manu- facture. The touch-mark is usually applied outside, on the bottom of the piece, though sometimes it is to be seen inside. A favourite device with the American pew- terers was the eagle. The later makers very generally forsook the device and merely stamped their name and, perhaps, the place of manufacture. As an example of pewter marking may be mentioned the device of Thomas Badger, of Boston, who wrought in the latter part of the eighteenth century. His mark consisted of an eagle with "Thomas" above and "Badger" below. "Boston" in a rectangle "svith scroll design was stamped separately. Not all English pewter was marked, for the itinerant tinkers omitted marks, and the artisans not affiliated with any of the pewter guilds frequently left off any mark of identification. It is not safe to assume, there- fore, that any unmarked piece of pewter is necessarily of American origin, although a great quantity of Amer- ican ware is devoid of marks by which the maker may be identified. The list of American pewterers and their marks, so far as they can be gathered, printed at the end of the 14 210 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS chapter, is not by any means complete. It will serve to show, however, over what a range of time some of the best known among tlie craft worked. We still await a full and exhaustive list. PATTERN AND DECORATION To the unalterable necessity for simplicity in the ordinary moulds we must attribute, at least in part, the prevalent simplicity of form in pewter. Pewter that is obviously moulded in imitation of silver forms is far less felicitious in appearance than ware whose ex- pression is suited to the medium in which it is executed. The chief beauty of pewter must always lie in truthful- ness of proportion and contour and the surface of the metal, and not in overly refined lines or intricate sur- face decoration. The very nature of the metal pre- supposes staunch and robust structure with bold, vigorous, and simple lines, and the occasional attempts to emulate the work of the silversmiths make pewter look finicky and foolish. The seventeenth- and eighteenth-century American pewter is of robust aspect and generally pleasing de- sign, very similar to the English pieces of the Stuart period in many instances. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, however, a state of decadence set in, and from thence onward shapes were often attenuated and meagre. The early pewter, therefore, is usually the best. In England, and on the Continent far more than in England, various elaborate types of pewter decora- tion were, from time to time, indulged in by the pew- terers. With these, however, we have no concern, be- cause they do not, fortunately, appear in pewter of American make. The only three methods of orna- EARLY AMERICAN PEWTER 211 mentation that we have to take into account are the distribution of lines and decorative but simple mould- ings; engraving, and, finally, "wriggling" or "jog- gling," an exceedingly effective but little-used method of embellishment, so far as it was practised by American pewterers. Mouldings and rims that had to be cast in a mould necessarily drew their charm from simplicity and a restrained convexity of proportion rather than from multiplicity of members and concavity or undercutting. As a matter of fact, the mouldings and rims of the best pewter were exceedingly simple, but they were well placed and effective, and their unobtnisive and often- times flattened contour did not interrupt the beauty of the metal 's surface as seen in the plain portions of the plate or vessel. Engraving was little used for tracing decorative de- signs on American pewter, and was chiefly confined to lettering or to tracing one or more lines on the surface of flat-ware or about the body of hollow-ware near rims or mouldings. Even lettering was rarely employed, and that sparingly and in the simplest manner possible. In its absolutely free surfaces pewter offered a con- trast to silver, which, though of plain surface, was often adorned with armorial bearings and ornamentally let- tered inscriptions. English pewter was occasionally embellished with engraving, and Continental pewter often displayed elaborate embossing, as well as intricate engraved designs. By nature pewter was not particu- larly suitable as a medium for engraving. Deep-cut lines tended to w^eaken the work, and thin, delicate lines soon became wholly or partially effaced. "Wriggling" or "joggling" was a form of surface 212 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS ornamentation in broken or wavy lines or what some- times at first sight appeared to be disconnected gouges, done by forcing a flat-bladed tool forward, breadth- wise, with a rocking or wriggling motion, and holding it, the while, at an angle of about 45 or 50 degrees. Some idea of the method of applying this process may be gained by pushing a carving chisel forward over a piece of sheet lead. The character of the wriggled line pro- FlG. 5. Sugar Bowl with " wriggled " ornament, eighteenth century, Bucks, Pennsylvania. Courtesy of Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. duced was governed by the speed and regularity of the forward wriggling motion and the width of blade of the tool used. The blade of the tool was usually about one thirty-second of an inch wide. Scrolls, foliated designs, lettering, and various decorative devices could thus be executed and made to cover the whole surface if desired. The pear-shaped sugar bowl illustrated (Fig. 5) shows a good example of wriggled decoration. It was made EARLY AMERICAN PEWTER 213 in Pennsylvania, either in Bucks or Berks County, about the middle of the eighteenth century, and its contour approximates that of some contemporary silver sugar bowls. Other forms of decoration, such as pearling, tracing, and punch-work, to be seen on foreign pewter, were not practised by American pewterers, or only in such ex- ceptional cases that they cannot be considered as in any sense representative. THE CARE AND CLEANING OF PEWTER Much of the old pewter that one picks up in antique shops and at country sales has been so abused or neglected that its surface is not prepossessing. Pewter, as well as any other metal, in its normal condition should be kept clean and at least reasonably bright. There are those that profess to admire it more when it has a dull and ancient look, but, in the days when it was made and habitually used and prized, housewives took a pride in keeping it immaculately polished, and it is only when polished that the beautiful sheen, which consti- tutes a great part of its charm, can be seen. By proper treatment, old pewter pieces with dull, disfigured, and corroded surfaces — if the metal be of at all a good quality — can be restored to their pristine beauty, or, at any rate, to some degree of it. If pewter is to be left for long periods without an occasional rubbing, it is well to wipe it with a woollen rag and a touch of vaseline, leaving a very thin and virtually invisible coat of vaseline on it. The black oxide often found on pewter that has been neglected for a long time may be removed in either one of two ways. The first is to apply hydrochloric acid with a brush or with a rag held between the cleft ends 214 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS of a stick. When the oxide scales soften, wipe off the acid with a wet sponge. The second and slower way is to use paraffin oil, either as an application or as a bath. JSeveral treatments may be necessary where the pewter is badly oxidised. Do not scrape pewter to remove scratches. Rub first with fine emery cloth or emery paper and then apply a burnisher. A jeweller's polishing lathe or buffing wheel is the best thing to use for polishing pewter. To clean pewter, one of the following formulae may be used : Rub with rotten-stone and oil and finish with dry rotten-stone on a soft cloth or piece of chamois skin. A paste of rotten-stone and soft soap mixed with turpentine may also be used, polishing off with dry rotten-stone and a chamois skin as before. Dry putty powder or oxide of tin, rubbed on with a cloth or chamois skin ; oxalic acid dissolved in water with sifted rotten-stone, or, finally, almost any of the commercial polishing pastes may be used with satisfactory results. The making of pewter began to decline in the latter part of the eighteenth century and continued on a downward course until 1835 or 1840, when the practice of the craft almost ceased. It was commercially dis- placed either by china, glass, and silver-plated ware, or else by some of the alloys that resembled it. These later wares are often mistaken for pewter, and, in many instances, the articles made in them followed pewter forms. Frequently they were made by the same in- dividuals or concerns that had previously made pewter, and they may be reckoned, in a way, as belonging under the classification of pewter, since they are to some de- gree evolution! sed pewter. They all, however, lack the EARLY AMERICAN PEWTER 215 subtle cliarm of the earlier and genuine pewter, and their colour and surface are generally hard and un- sympathetic in aspect. One who has seen and handled good pewter cannot fail to detect the difference without much difficulty. The collector of old American pewter is blessed with numerous opportunities for making acquisitions, as there is scarcely a place in the Atlantic States and the States immediately to the west of them where good pieces may not be picked up. In some places one must be on the lookout for faked antiques, but the evidences of age and wear are too unmistakable for a person with a keen collecting instinct and a keen collecting eye to be very easily deceived. Pewter making is not to be regarded as necessarily a dead craft. Eather is it to be considered as quiescent and susceptible of revival in the proper hands. The art nouveau attempts in some quarters cannot be looked upon as a proper employment of the metal. The in- spiration for a healthy pewter revival must come fi'om a thorough acquaintance with the old forms and methods of work. Like methods will produce approx- imately like results. Given the taste and proper feeling on the part of the craftsman and a sympathetic knowl- edge of, and respect for, the qualities of the medium in which he is working, there is no good reason why pewter making should not again assume an honourable place in the list of American handicrafts. The collections of American pewter in the 'Boston Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art are especially worthy of study. 216 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS Partial List of American Pkwtebehs Austin, Richard; lioston, 17!)0. Badger, lliomas; Boston, 1789. Bassett, Francis; New York, 1786. Bassett, Frederick; New York, 1792. ]{ird, James; New York, 1820. Boardman & Co.; New York, 1824. Boardman & Hart; New York, 1828. Boardman, Thomas D.; Hartford, Conn., after 1825. Bunisteed, Thomas; Boston, 1G54. Calder, William; Providence, R. I., 1824. Clarke, Thomas; Boston, 1683, Coldwell, George; New York, 1792. Comer, Jolin; Boston, 1078. Danforth, Samuel; Hartford, Conn., probably early nineteenth century. Dunham, II.; Boston, probably after 1825. Elsworth, William I.; New York, 1792. Fields, Philip; New York, 1799. Gleason, Roswell; Dorchester, Mass., 1830. Green, Andrew; Boston, 1789. Green, Samuel; Boston, 1798, Green, Thomas; Boston, 1789. Hamlin, Samuel E.; Providence, R. I., 1824. Hart, Lucius; New York, 1828. Hero, Charlotte; Philadelphia, 1796. Kirkby, William; New York, 1786. Lafefra & Allaire; New Y^ork, 1815. Lock (e?), D.; New York, probably after 1825. M'Ewen & Son, Malcolm; New York, 1794. Michel, Andre; New Y'ork, 1796. Pearse, Robert; New York, 1792. Porter, F.; Conn. ( ?), probably after 1825. Richardson, George; Boston, 1825. Richardson, G.; Cranston, R. I., early nineteenth century. Shrimpton, Henry "brasier"; Boston, 1665. Skinner, John; Boston, 1789. Trask, John; Boston, 1825. Welch, John ; Boston, 1796. Wildes, Thomas; New Y'ork, 1832. | Will, Henry; New York. 1786. ! Will, William; Philadelphia, 1796. Y^oule & Co., Thomas; New York, 1811. Youle, G.; New York, 1798. Youle, Thomas; New York, 1815. CHAPTER VIII EARLY AMERICAN SLIP-DECORATED POTTERY THE making of slip-decorated pottery is one of the long-forgotten early American crafts brought to light within comparatively recent years by intelligent collecting and searching enquiry. The characteristics and markings of these interesting pieces are described in the latter part of this chapter. The manufacture and decoration of this species of earthenware constituted an industry whose existence w^as unsuspected by collectors and connoisseurs until, in 1891, Dr. Edward AtLee Barber, of the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, in Philadelphia, made a discovery that soon led to a wealth of finds and opened up a mine of engaging information. To Dr. Barber's efforts, indeed, we owe substantially all we know of the origin and practice of this phase of Amer- ican ceramic development, from the initial attempts of a few eighteenth century potters to the ultimate aban- donment of the kilns, about the middle of the nineteenth century. The incident that led to Dr. Barber's discovery was the chance purcliase, in a junk-shop, of a red earthen- ware pie plate, decorated with a device of flowers and birds, done in sfjraffito, and bearing an inscription in a peculiar German dialect. The plate was thought, at first, to be of European workmanship, but careful scrutiny of the inscription showed that some of the words were not German, but "Pennsylvania Dutch." 217 218 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS This fact, and the enquiries set on foot regarding the source whence this particular plate had fallen into the junk dealer's hands, furnished a clew that led to the discovery that the art of making this decorated pottery had been brought from Germany and 'Svas flourishing in Eastern Pennsylvania before the middle of the eighteenth century. ' ' Subsequent investigations showed that slip-deco- rated earthenware was potted in several other parts of the country, also, in the latter years of the eighteenth century and early in the nineteenth. Outside of the German settlements in Pennsylvania, the small pot- teries that produced ware of this description were located in Philadelphia ; in West Wliiteland and Uwch- lan townships of Chester County, Pennsylvania; at Morgantown, in West Virginia; in Connecticut, and possibly in the upper part of New York State and one or two other places. The slip w^are made in all the potteries, other than those in the German district of Pennsylvania, lacked the ornate decoration whicli the colonists from the Palatinate lavished upon their work, and, although it displayed some degree of ornamenta- tion, the embellishment was nearly always of the simplest type. It is not at all improbable that the making of slip-decorated pottery in the non-Gei*man parts of the country represented a survival of the art as practised by the old English potters, and that the American potters were merely perpetuating traditions that they had brought from their old environment, just as the Germans w^ere perpetuating their peculiar hered- itary methods of manufacture and adornment. The Germans of Pennsylvania, or the "Pennsyl- vania Dutch," as they are commonly called, began to SGRAFFITO SLIP WARE PIE PLATE; "MISCHIANZA" DEVICE, 1780 John T. Morris Collection, Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art SGRAFFITO SLIP WAKE MEAT DISH; CPEAM GROUND; TULIP AND PEACOCK. DECORATION" GREEN AND RED. 1789 John T. Morris Collection, Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art SGRAFFITO SLIP WAKE DISH; UNITED DOVE AND TULIP. DECORATIONS GREEN AND RED, 1786 John T. Morris Collection, Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art LARGE SLIP DECORATED VEGETABLE OR MEAT DISH. CREAM-COLOURED SLIP ON RED GROUND, 1769 John T. Morris Collection, Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art SLIP-DECORATED POTTERY 219 emigrate from their fatherland in 1683, and continued to come to America in ever-increasing numbers until, by 1727, they composed a very considerable portion of the population of the Province. After 1727 their immigra- tion Avas still more rapid, but, by the year just men- tioned, they had indelibly impressed with their charac- teristics the counties where they were chiefly settled — ■ Bucks, Berks, Montgomery, Lancaster, Lehigh, and Northampton. These immigrants hailed from various German principalities, but most of them came from the Ehenish Palatinate and adjacent provinces, and the local peculiarities of those same provinces, in dialect and customs, are said to predominate to this day in the German sections of Pennsylvania. By far the great majority of these people were from the humbler walks of life ; simple, sturdy, industrious folk who devoted themselves to agriculture with all their might and main, staying on the land they tilled and carefully avoiding the political entanglements of their neighbour colonists. They were good farmers, thrifty in their habits, moderate in their wants, re- sourceful and capable of raising in their fields, or making at home, nearly everything they needed — in a word, they were sufficient unto themselves and quite content to let the world outside their own small sphere wag as it might, without troubling their heads seriously about it. It is easy to understand how people of such ten- dencies, keeping to themselves, preserved their local manners and customs quite distinct from those of the surrounding communities. It is also easy to under- stand how, under such conditions, people of their strongly conservative temperament would faithfully 220 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS perpetuate all the traditions tliey had brought with them from their old home. The making of slip-dec- orated pottery was extensively practised in the parts of Germany from which they came, and when occasion arose for them to engage in potting, what more natural than that thev should stick to methods of manufacture and types of decoration with which they were thor- oughly familiar? As stated before, these people were, first and foremost, farmers, and, in nearly every in- stance, potting was a side issue, to be pursued in off seasons when farm duties were not urgent. Most of the potteries, therefore, were small concerns, operated by one man, with such occasional assistance as he might require, so that it is plain to be seen why there is often such a marked individuality discernible in the pieces coming from one kiln and such a difference between them and the outjout of another kiln, perhaps hard by. VARIETIES OF SLIP-DECORATED WARE The Pennsylvania German slip-decorated ware was the first decorated pottery^ to be made by white settlers within the present limits of the United States, and presents two distinct varieties, which are the con- verse of each other. On one the design is traced in slip, while on the other the entire surface of the article to be decorated is covered with an engohe or coating of slip ' It is a matter of history that a pottery was established and worked at Burlington, New Jersey, in the latter part of the seventeenth century. Pottery with a white glaze is said to have been made. One or two frag- ments of such pottery have been found in the vicinity and show a simple relief ornamentation. Presumably they are from this source. The refuse heap of the old pottery is now covered by a lawn, whose owner, we are informed, refuses to permit excavation, so that it is impossible to identify the fragments as unmistakably of Burlington origin. SLIP-DECORATED POTTERY 221 and the design is then done in sgraffito or by an incised scratching away of the slip coat from the underlying surface. MATERIALS The materials required for the manufacture of slip ware were simple and few in number. The common yellowish clay, from which the ordinary commercial red earthenware is made, formed the body or base of the articles to be decorated. Tlie slip or liquid clay, with which the design was applied or from which the engobe, in the case of sgraffito decoration, was made, was usually of a cream colour and was composed of light-hued clay, mixed with water. At first this clay was imported from overseas, but was afterwards fetched from Jersey. The glaze was made from either red lead or galena. Various colouring substances, such as manganese and verdigris, were used for the more elaborate pieces. Water was added to the lead to make a thin mixture, and then ordinary clay, worked fine and smooth, was used as a thickening factor of the preparation. IMPLEMENTS The implements employed by the potters (Fig. 1) were the potter's wheel; the smoother or rib (Fig. 1, H), a ''small piece of wood, leather, or calabasli, of square or rounded form, usually having a hole in the centre for the tliumb and finger," used to smooth the outside surface of hollow-ware while still revolving on the wheel; the finishing brush, made of hog bristles, for touching up parts that could not be reached con- veniently by the smoother; the cutting wire, about a foot long, with wooden hnndles at the ends, with which vessels were loosened from the whool; the pounder or 222 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS hatter (Fig. 1, D), a wooden tool, '^flat on one side and rounded on the other, with a handle at one end," for beating out the clay into flat form; the rolling pin (Fig. 1, F), shaped like a wooden dough-rolling pin, but with separate handle, like a stick, passing through Fig. 1.— a, Plate. B, Goggle. C, Rule for gauging height of vessels on potter s wheel. D, Batter. E, Palette. F, Two-handled Roller. G, Disc Cutter. H, Rib for smoothing surface of ware on wheel. J, Goggle. K, Lines traced by slip cup. L, Three-quilled Slip Cup. Courtesy of Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. the cylinder body, for completing and evening the work begun by the batter; the disc cutter (Fig. 1, G), con- sisting of a ''wooden arm supported on one end by a small foot or block of Avood, of circular or octagonal form, in which the arm revolved, and, in the other end, SLIP-DECORATED POTTERY 223 set at right angles, a metal point" adjustable in a series of lioles along the length of the arm; the slip cup (Fig. 1, L) or quill box, with one to seven quills, as occasion required, from which the slip was applied to the piece to be decorated ; the mould for shaping bowels and con- cave dishes from flat clay discs, and, last of all, the decorating ivheel or coggle (Fig. 1, B and J), for notch- ing or indenting the edges of pie plates. TROCESSES After the clay was ground, mixed, kneaded, and workad to the proper consistency, it was divided into balls or lumps, each of which contained enough ma- terial to make a vessel or dish. For making hollow- ware, a lump was thrown on the potter's wheel and worked to the desired shape in the manner ordinarily pursued by potters. For flat-ware and moulded pieces, the clay lump was beaten and then rolled to the proper thickness, cut with the disc cutter, if it was of circular form, and then shaped over the mould and the edge notched with the coggle, if notching w^as to be done. The pieces were then set away to dry. When the drying process was sufficiently advanced the decoration was applied. In the slip-traced or slip-painted ware, the slip or liquid clay of about the consistency of batter or thick cream was trickled from the slip cup or quill box through one or more quills over the surface of the un- burned ware when it had partially dried. When the slip itself had become dry enough to get set it was some- times pressed or beaten into the still plastic surface of the plate or platter. At other times the design was allowed to stand out in low relief. The slip was gen- 224 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS erally of a lighter colour than the coarse clay under- lyiug it. Indeed, the slip was almost always cream coloured or nearly white, while the body of the pottery was a dark orange or red. Occasionally the scheme was reversed and a design in red slip was traced on a cream-coloured ground. In making the sgraffito ware, the red body of the pottery was entirely covered with a coating or engohe of the cream-coloured slip and, when this had sufficiently dried, the decorative designs were incised or etched upon it with a sharp-pointed stick. This method of decoration admitted of greater elaboration of design and far more accuracy and nicety of execution than the former method by Avhich the design had to be applied by tracing lines with a thick, flowing liquid that re- quired no little dexterity to regulate. Ordinarily the slip-decorated ware, whether slip traced or done by the sgraffito process, was subjected to only one firing. In the case of the more elaborate pieces, however, two firings were sometimes given. The glazing mixture was poured into hollow-ware that was to be glazed only on the inside ; the vessel was then whirled rapidly round and round until the entire inner surface was thoroughly covered and the residue of the glaze was emptied out. Vessels to be glazed both inside and outside were dipped in the glazing mixture. The glaze was painted upon the upper surface of pie plates, platters, dishes, and other flat or semi-concave articles with a brush. In the process of firing, the glazing mixture ''be- came a yellowish, translucent glass." To darken the glaze, manganese was added in various quantities, ac- cording to the depth of tone desired, a black being SLIP-DECORATED POTTERY 225 ultimately attainable by using enough manganese. When a greenish tinge was required, verdigris was added to the ordinary glazing mixture, previously de- scribed, instead of manganese. To produce a mottled effect, verdigris was occasionally dabbed on the glaze in spots and allowed to melt into the glaze in the heat of the kiln. In a few instances, glaze of a chocolate- brown hue has been found. This variet^^ however, is very unusual and was obtained by the use of manganese. On some of the more elaborate pieces one occasionally finds either slips or glazes coloured blue, dark red, dark brown, olive, yellow, and other hues, so that it is plain that the chromatic possibilities were not necessarily restricted to narrow limits, though, as a rule, the potters stuck to the simpler schemes, and it was only the more ambitious who strove, and that in exceptional instances, to achieve a more varied polychrome effect. Confining themselves to their red, white, and green, or simply red and white, it is remarkable how much variety they suc- ceeded in getting. From the nature of conditions, a greater variety of colour was possible in srjraffito ware than in slip-traced pottery. After the glaze was put on, the pieces were set away to dry and wait until there were enough to fill the kiln. The firing process generally took about a day and a half. The kiln was then sealed and allowed to remain so for about a week, by the end of which time it had cooled off sufficiently so that the ware could be removed. ARTICLES MADE Although platters, pie plates, jars or crocks, and cooking pots seem to have been the most numerous articles manufactured by the Pennsylvania German 16 X 226 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS potters, many other pieces also were produced by these farmer craftsmen. The common commercial form of pie plate was a concave, shallow disc with a notched or cogg'led edge, and the decoration usually consisted of parallel waving lines (Fig. 1, K). More elaborately decorated pie plates, however, were by no means un- common. The plates and the platters were generally round, either with or without a broad rim, but oblong Fig. 2. Green Glaze Jar, Vickers' Pottery, Downingtown, Pennsylvania. John T. Morris Collection, Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. and oval shapes also occurred, and sometimes fluted ovals. Jars or crocks and cooking pots were of various shapes and sizes, but, in most cases, followed the ordinary familiar type still to be seen in the farmhouse kitchens of the Middle States. The cooking pots were made both with and ^vithout lids. 'Besides the articles of most common manufacture just enumerated, there were also deep vegetable dishes, sometimes circular, sometimes octagonal or hexagonal ; SLIP-DECORATED POTTERY 227 meat dishes; fancy dishes or trays; cake plates; soup plates ; shaving basons, like soup plates, with a curved piece cut out of the rim to fit the neck; shaving cups; spherical or cylindrical jars, usually with lids and either with (Fig. 2) or without handles; honey jars; tobacco jars (Fig. 3, B) ; apple-butter pots ; bowls ; cake and jelly moulds; decorative flower-pots; jugs for vinegar and molasses; mugs or measures, either straight sided with one handle (Fig. 3, A) or else Fig. 3. A, Sgraffito Mug, Eastern Pennsylvania. John T. Morris Collection, Penn- sylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. B, Tobacco Jar, red ground with cream-coloured and black slip decoration; c. 1830. Courtesy of Dr. Edwin AtLee Barber. tumbler shaped, flaring towards the top, without handle ; flower holders or vases of different shapes more or less fanciful ; pitchers large and small ; tea canisters ; cotfee-pots; sugar bowls; cream pitchers; ink stands; sand shakers and toys in the form of birds, animals, whistles, and miniature eating and drinking vessels. These pieces of domestic utility were made by the farmer potters from about 1720 to about 1850. The slip-ware was of two sorts, commercial or com- mon, which was produced in large quantities ; and the 228 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS finer articles, elaborately decorated, that were made in fulfillment of special orders or for presentation pieces, and, for that reason, cannot be said to have ever had any strictly commercial value. In the distinctly dec- orative slip-traced ware, not intended for constant hard usage, the design Avas often allowed to remain in slight reUef . On the slip-traced ware of simpler design, meant for regTilar daily wear and tear, the figure was beaten or pressed into the surface of the plate or platter, or whatever the article might be, while it was still ' ' green, ' ' or not thoroughly dry before glazing and firing, so that when glazed there might be no roughness to chip or wear through. The sgraffito ware almost always bore more or less elaborate decoration, but, as the glaze filled all depressions, there were no conspicuously uneven places to wear through. DECORATIVE METHODS AND MOTIFS 'Besides the processes of slip tracing and sgraffito decorating ordinarily employed by the potters, there were several other methods of ornamentation to which they now and then resorted. One of these was a transfer process; the other was a kind of embossing or relief work obtained by moulding. In the transfer process a leaf was laid on the body to be decorated, an engohe of white slip was spread over the rest of the surface, and then the leaf was removed, leaving its shape silhouetted in the surrounding coat of slip. For the embossed or raised decoration, the design to be reproduced was cut into the surface of the mould over which the dish was shaped. The mould being withdrawn, the raised dec- oration was left standing out from the surface in strong relief. The whole was then glazed and fired. SLIP-DECORATED POTTERY 229 The motifs chosen for the decorative treatment of the slip-ware were of the most varied descriijtion, rang- ing from extremely simple conventional floral subjects to the human figure. Indeed, on the cheaper sort of pottery which was turned out in large quantities, the decoration often consisted of merely a succession of wavy parallel lines, as previously noted, traced with a slip cup that had from two to seven quills side by side. In the embellishment of the more ambitious pieces, it is often quite possible to recognise easily the flowers and fruits and leaves or the birds and animals with which the old potters wrought their decorative schemes ; then, again, the subjects have been so conventionalised or so crudely treated that identification is altogether out of the question. A bird, it may be, is ''no particular kind of a bird," but just a nondescript fowl that might equally well be taken for a parrot, a hen, or a peacock. Sometimes the birds or animals are strongly suggestive of the composite and impossible creatures one en- counters in heraldry or ancient mythology. In almost all cases, however, let the treatment be as crude as it may, the decorative effect is distinctly interesting, if not really good. For the sake of convenience it will be well to classify the most frequently used motifs under the general heads of Floivers, Fruits, Birds, Animals, Human Figures, Miscellaneous Devices and Inscrip- tions, or Initials and Dates. Flowers. — The Tulip. Among the flowers chosen by the Pennsylvania German potters for the decoration of their ware, the tulip was easily first in point of popu- larity. It was so universal a favourite and its employ- ment was so prevalent, during the whole period of manufacture, apparently being esteemed beyond all 230 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS other motifs taken together, that the pottery made by the German colonists is often spoken of as "Tulip Ware." So beloved was the tulip by these early Ger- man settlers in America, indeed, that they habitually l)ourtrayed it in every conceivable place and under every conceivable form, either natural or convention- alised. They cast it in their iron stove plates, they painted it on the dower chests of their brides, they worked it on their samplers, they illuminated it on their Vorschriften, they carved it on the date-stones of their houses along with the initials of the goodman and his spouse, and, finally, they chiselled it on the headstones of their graves when they were gathered to their fathers. Besides all this, the early colonists cultivated the bulb most extensively. It could scarcely have had greater veneration in Holland in the days of Tulipomania. Some mystic symbolism seems to have attached to this prevalent use of the tulip motif — perhaps, like the old Persians, the "Pennsylvania Dutch" associated it with the ideas of life, love, and immortality. At any rate, it lent itself admirably to decorative treatment in the hands of unskilled draughtsmen, and is by far the most successful of all the subjects they attempted. Indeed, the plates, platters, jars, and other articles decorated with the tulip design often possess much genuine artistic merit and charm, whereas many of the other designs appeal to us merely by their rugged vigour in both con- ceiDtion and execution or by their naive grotesquerie. The Fuchsia. Next to the tulip in popular favour as a motif for decoration came the fuchsia. Like the tulip, it lent itself convenientlv to conventional treatment or, if preferred, to a semi-naturalistic representation. "One of the striking characteristics of the German OCTAGONAL DISH WITH MOULDED RELIEF DECORATION. PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN, 1794 John T. Morris Collection, Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art SLIP DKCOHATKI) I'll: l'l,ATi:.,>, I iivM lllK \ K KLKS POTTERY, CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. DISH MOULD Courtesy of Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial .^rt SLIP-DECORATED POTTERY 231 people in Pennsylvania, which has clung to them through all the years that have elapsed since their an- cestors left the fatherland, is their love for flowers." Historians tell us that the people in the Rhine country take an especial delight in flowers, and that "nowhere is this trait so universal as in the Palatinate, along the left side of the river," the district from which so many of the Pennsylvania German colonists migrated. The fuchsia was a familiar and much-esteemed flower in the gardens of the farmhouses, and its almost invariable presence there is probably to be accounted for in part by the fact that ''the fuchsia in Germany has long been regarded as sacred, since it is one of the first signs of the returning life of spring." The Forget-me-not. Sometimes in connexion with roses, sometimes by itself, the forget-me-not appears as a decoration on slip-traced or sgraffito pottery. Its clearly defined outline invited depiction. Sentiment, also, dictated its use, especially on pieces intended for presentation. It was a traditional subject, too, and often appears as a motif on some of the old pottery made in Germany. Other Flowers. The rose, the lily of the valley, the Persian pink, and other blossoms also were used by the potters to embellish their handiwork. While, in some instances, it is quite impossible to tell what the botanic affinities of the blossom represented may be, the indica- tions are usually plain enough for identification. In the selection of floral motifs, the craftsmen were guided not only by personal preference or the readiness with which certain species lent themselves to adaptation for decorative purposes, but also by a regard for the sym- bolism expressed in the language of flowers — the accom- 232 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS paiiyiiig inscriptions on many pieces prove this — and by the promptings of traditional attachment, for these simple colonists, under an oftentimes uncouth exterior, were, after all, tender sentimentalists, rigorous con- servatives, and mystics in their own somewhat clumsy and bucolic way (Fig. 4). Fruits. Apples and grapes seem to have been the favourite fruits chosen for representation on the slip- decorated ware, although other fruits also may now Fio. 4. A, Dish, cream, green and black slip decoration. By John Leidy, Penn- sylvania, 1790. B, Sgraffito Dish, polychrome glaze. Eastern Pennsylvania, c. 1790. John T. Morris Collection, Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. and then be found. Fruit motifs, apparently, were not nearly so popular as some other subjects. Birds. — The Turtledove. Among birds, the turtle- dove held a place comparable in favour to that of the tulip among floral motifs. It was the emblem of love and conjugal felicity, and its recurrence is frequent not only on the sgraffito decorated plates, platters, and jugs, but also in other decorative work wrought by the Penn- sylvania Germans. The Eagle. The eagle appears both in its natural shape and in the traditional double-headed form proper SLIP-DECORATED POTTERY 233 to heraldic representation. As a natural bird it was, perhaps, indicative of patriotism on the part of the potters who potted after the king of birds had become a national emblem. As a double-headed creature it was reminiscent of the devices they had so often seen blasoned in the land of their origin or of the design on some treasured heirloom they had brought with them to a new land. The Peacock. The decorative possibilities sug- gested by the peacock could not fail to impress a crafts- man considering a subject of design. Furthermore, the peacock was a familiar fowl in the farmhouse door- yards, as it "was raised quite extensively in the Penn- svlvania German settlements, as elsewhere in the Eastern States, and in some of the rural districts it was looked upon as a weather prophet, its discordant cry being supposed to indicate the approach of rain. Its gorgeous plumage was used for mantel decoration, sometimes being placed in an earthen jar, and was also made into pliant brooms to be waved across the dining table in fly time. For ordinary purposes brushes made of fringed paper were in common use, but the peacock broom was always brought forth on state occasions." Other Birds. In addition to the birds just named, the potters made more or less use of the following in their decoration: the duck, the drake, the swan, the oriole, the parrot, the domestic cock (Fig. 5, B) and hen, and the pelican (Fig. 5, A), the last being regarded as emblematic of maternal devotion. Animals. Besides the deer, the horse, and the rab- bit, which seem to have been looked upon with special favour among the representatives of the animal king- dom, lions, dogs, and other four-footed creatures made 234 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS their appearance from time to time. Although the draw- ing of animals was never so successful as the delinea- tion of certain flowers and a few of the birds, the repre- sentation was not infrequently vigorous and spirited. Human Figukes. When it came to tracing the "human form divine," the "Pennsylvania Dutch" pot- ter can scarcely be reckoned a skillful limner. Most of his efforts in that direction are frankly grotesque, but refreshing, nevertheless, if we take them simply for what they are worth and do not expect too much. On B Fig. 5. A, Deep flaring Dish, red ground with slip decoration. Eastern Pennsyl- vania c. 1830. B, Deep Dish with flaring rim. Decorations in cream slip with toucues of green glaze. Probably by John Leidy, Eastern Pennsylvania, c. 1796. John T. Morris Collection. Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. a plate showing a wedding scene the bride and groom are evidently people of very positive mould. If physi- ognomy be any criterion, one might reasonably suspect the lady of having a truculent disposition and a shrew- ish temper. The wasp-like w^aists of the damsels on the Mischianza plate excite our pity, but, notwithstand- ing the physical limitations of their tenuity, they seem to be having such an agreeable time treading the minuet with their gallant British partners that perhaps our compassion is not needed. At any rate, whatever their SLIP-DECORATED POTTERY 235 defects from an artistic point of view, they are interest- ing from historical considerations, for they throw many a valuable sideliglit on the dress and manners of the time. Miscellaneous Devices. The slip-ware decorators now and again had recourse to miscellaneous devices not included in any of the foregoing classifications. Among these may be found houses, trees, hearts, swords, stars, fish, serpents, herring-bone patterns, and serpentine scrolls. Inscriptions. For marginal use or incorporation in the body of the decoration, inscriptions, dates, names, and initial letters were of frequent occurrence. Moral admonitions, mottoes, proverbs, expressions of affec- tionate regard, and indications of ownership are all to be found, and sometimes the name of the maker occupies a conspicuous place. The snatches of verse and the couplets thus employed are often exceedingly quaint, and, by this means, one occasionally finds an allusion to some peculiar local custom or gets an insight into an interesting bit of folk-lore. The general tone may be judged by the following specimens : To paint flowtTs is common, But God alone is able to give fragrance. Rather would I single live Than the wife the breeches give. A pipe of tobacco does a man as much good As tbougli he spends his money with the gills. I cook what I can, If my sow will not eat, my husband will. The last was probably in allusion to an old German say- ing that "lie is a poor farmer because he eats all the good things himself and does not give his pig any." 230 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS Nearly all of these inscriptions are in the ' ' Pennsyl- vania Dutch" dialect. The lettering is generally vig- orous and possessed of a certain rude grace which accords well with the naivete of the sentiments ex- pressed. Sometimes the marginal inscriptions on plates were in the nature of a grace, and filled a useful purpose in supplying occasional reminders of moral principles and food for reflection while the plate itself supplied food for the body. It must be remembered, too, that among these people there was little popular reading matter, so that the inscriptions, therefore, ministered to another want. The potters, in some cases, put small marks or de- vices on their work to indicate authorship, instead of signing the pieces with their names. In forming our estimate of the intrinsic merits of Pennsylvania German slip-decorated pottery it is not, of course, fair to apply the tests that we should ordinarily apply to work of a more finished character. It was a spontaneous expression of folk-art among a crude people, and we must consider all the attendant circumstances of its production. The conception is full of vitality, and the depiction energetic and straight- forAvard. The artists were not skillful, but they were sincere, and their honest efforts should command our respect, because they w^ere evidently doing the best they knew how. Above all, it was appropriate, for it suited the conditions of the people by whom and for whom it was made. Notwithstanding all the imperfections in drawing, notwithstanding the frequent crudity of colour, notwithstanding the general bizarrerie of many of the pieces, they all possess a decorative charm that compels our interest, if not our admiration. Indeed, in SLIP-DECORATED POTTERY 237 the light of recent post-Impressionistic inspiration, it seems hard to deny the old potters some artistic rating. Surely the habitual deficiency of drawing, the painfully jimp waists of the women, the misshapen anatomy of the men, the exaggerations and distortions in the pour- trayal of birds, beasts, and flowers, are all very like the earmarks of draughtsmanship that receive the approval of our most modern art mentors. There is this differ- ence, ho^vever. Xone of the old potters were posing, and all of them were unquestionably sincere. The old potteries are now all idle or have fallen into ruin. They have not been operated since about 1850. We cannot help feeling some regret that this craft is no longer practised, and it is quite possible to understand the inspiration that prompted English Colonial potters living near the Germans to imitate their ware. Apart from the purposes of the collector, the present value of the pottery is twofold. By its ow^n visible evidence we can learn much of the people who made it, and, more important still, it is capable of supplying a stimulus to the craftsman of to-day. It can never be exactly dupli- cated, nor is it desirable that it should be, but the processes by which it was made can be used again and with as great success. The collector never knows when or where he may chance upon a piece of slip-ware and, incidentally, a discovery regarding manners and methods. If one really wishes to find novel pieces he must be constantly on the lookout in every imaginable place, just as he would for any other kind of pottery or porcelain, and he must be willing to poke into all sorts of unpromising nooks and corners. One can never tell where the treasure may lie. The rural districts of Pennsylvania, 238 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS however, and the cities not too far removed from the eastern portion of the State are likely to be the most fruitful hunting ground. In any of these places it is worth while to nose about any antique shop or the habitat of any junk dealer. The finest collection of slip-ware in any one place is to be seen at Memorial Hall, in Fairmount Park, Phila- delphia, a part of the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. There is also a collection at Man- heim, Pennsylvania. STONEWARE It would be unjust to the eighteenth century crafts- men to conclude a chapter on early pottery without some allusion to the grey or grey-brown stoneware with blue decorations. Such ware, consisting chiefly of pitchers, mugs, butter crocks and pickle jars, w^as made in several places and, in one or two instances — notably at Haddonfield in West Jersey — has been manufactured without interruption to the present day, the same forms and methods of decoration being employed without change. The shapes of these vessels w^ere good and the colour scheme — deep blue decorations in a grey or grey-brown ground — pleasing. Simple floral devices were either painted on a flat surface or else blue colour- ing was run into shallow incised patterns, after which the glaze w^as applied. Sometimes the whole surface was covered with incised ornament and not coloured. CHAPTER IX DECORATIVE PAINTING ON HOUSEHOLD GEAR ExVRLY American decorative painting has far more than a purely antiquarian interest for us to-day. The various decorative objects wrought by the craftsmen and craftswomen of Colonial and post- Colonial periods, and the articles of common household utility, to which they applied some sort of painted orna- mentation, have aroused in recent years a lively in- terest on the part of both collectors and professional decorators and have supplied abundant inspiration and patterns for modern emulation. Collectors esteem them for their intrinsic merits, for the gratification of some individual fancy, for some peculiarity of historical consideration attaching to them or the like. Decorators have recognised their value for purposes of a kind of embellishment, especially effective in certain appro- jDriate settings, and when they cannot come by originals they are not slow to demand reproductions, so that the craftsworker has found much employment in this fruit- ful traditional field. The private purchaser, too, has not been slow to see the merits of this old work and turn it to good account. Although the decorative painting representing the handiwork of long-past generations has not been made the definite object of the collector's energies in a com- prehensive way, so far as the writers are aware — it really spreads over almost too wide a range to fit con- veniently into the collecting scheme of any one in- 239 240 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS dividual — its appeal has proved so compelling, and we lind the application of the decorative resources it offers made in such various and ingenious ways, either by the use of original "finds" made at antique shops or at the junk dealer's, by reproductions or by adaptations that adhere pretty faithfully to the spirit of their prototypes in colour and design, that it deserves systematic and extended attention from those who would be fully cog- nisant of the wealth of our decorative heritage. Abundant examples of early decorative painting are to be found on the usual pieces of household furniture, especially chests, cupboards, chairs, and tables, and also upon mirror tops, clock faces, the doors of bracket and hanging clocks, trays, small boxes, bellows, snuff-boxes and band-boxes, and many other small odds and ends. First in order we shall consider the larger pieces of furniture. FURNITURE We are altogether too apt to take it for granted, that our Colonial forebears depended wholly upon the Old World for such things as were thence sent overseas to them for the gratification of any taste for the amenities of existence that they might have leisure and means to entertain or cultivate. As a matter of fact, they were not so busy subduing the wilderness and battling with adverse conditions that they had no time to devote to anything not savouring of severely practical utility. One of the things for which the desire seized them was some sort of decoration for their simpler and often home-made furniture, much of it constructed of cheap, common, and easily worked wood of whatever kind chance brought readiest to hand. With characteristic resourcefulness, they supplied the want themselves, DECORATIVE PAINTING 241 depending for inspiration upon the traditions they had brought with them, as a part of their heritage, from the lands whence they were sprung. The form of decoration they applied to their plainer furniture was painting, and we find furniture painting prac- tised from New England to the Southern Colonies. Its character differed widely in different localities and was determined in the several regions by the several types of tradition to which those who prac- tised it had fallen heir. Hence we fiind one style, derived from English tradition, in New England; another style, derived from Dutch tradition, in New York and the Dutch parts of Long Island and Northern New Jersey; while, in Pennsylvania, there flourished among the Pennsylvania Germans still a third style, derived from the peasant traditions of Bavaria and the neighbouring German principalities. Pennsylvania also exhibited examples of English tradition among the English colonists, and the same may be said of the Southern Colonies. The want of some sort of decoration was perfectly natural. Of necessity, the home-made furniture, chest, cupboard, or what you will, was severely simple in form and line and evidenced the need of something to relieve its austerity and baldness of aspect. Paint afforded the easiest means of supplying the obvious need, and paint was the first to suggest itself. It min- istered to native love of colour. Besides, paint was the logical preservative of the wood. But, even at the very beginning, paint was not regarded from the merely utilitarian point of ^new, for in some of the earliest instances it was applied to only a part of the surface and in a decorative design. This method of embellish- 16 242 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS ment was customarily employed where the object to be decorated was made of oak or some other wood whose grain and colour had a decorative value in themselves. New England, The first examples of American Colonial furniture painting are to be found, of course, in New England. There chests, hutches, small boxes, and the like were not infrequently adorned with simple floriated or foliated designs, more or less conventional, applied on a background of colour or upon the natural wood. Sometimes the decoration consisted merely of scrolls and waving lines. Nearly all the painting of this sort is of very early date, and most of the pieces in which it is found belong to the seventeenth century. The mouldings on many seventeenth- and some early eighteenth-century New England-made chests and cup- boards were of pine or some other soft wood, although the rest of the piece may have been of oak. One of the commonest forms of colour decoration was to paint or stain these mouldings red, in imitation of cedar or rosetta-wood. Likewise, the turned and applied orna- ments for seventeenth-century New England oak cab- inet work,^ such as round or oval bosses and split balusters, spindles, or maces, were frequently made of pine, or of some soft wood that could be easily worked, and then painted black to look like ebony. Sometimes, however, even hardwood mouldings were painted or stained. It was a common practice to stain parts of cabinet work instead of using paint, but, as the chromatic effect was obtained in practically the same way, the process is to be included under the head of painting. A more *v. "The Practical Book of Period Furniture"; Eberlein and McClure. DITCH NEW YORK PAINTED KAS HADI.EY CHEST, WITH PAINTED GOUGED GKOIND Courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City DECORATIVE PAINTING 243 extensive use of staining than that already alluded to, in the case of mouldings, is to be found on some of the "Hadley" chests — so called from the peculiar form of carved decoration found on many chests and boxes made in the vicinity of Hadley, Massachusetts — where rails, stiles, and panels are all given the adornment of colour, in addition to carving, and considerable variety is attained by the use of two or three hues, such as red, mulberry, and black or red, brown, and black. Often- times, also, on pieces of furniture other than chests, or on pieces with a device quite different from the Hadley pattern, where the ornament consisted of flat carving in low relief, the design was strongly accentu- ated by the application of colour to the background. Occasionally panels were painted with stripes. Then, again, the flat surfaces of panels or stiles of chests, or other articles of cabinet work, are sometimes found ornamented with painted line or dot designs in geometrical or floral patterns, and, in some cases, the tulip motif appears in this form, which circumstance would seem to point to a strain of Dutch or German influence and occasions some surprise, as one scarcely expects to find this flower painted — although its occur- rence elsewhere on carving is common enough — outside of the Pennsylvania German sphere of inspiration. The least worthy form of painted decoration was where it merely simulated panelling or some other decorative process. After the period of profuse carving had passed, the flat drawer fronts of chosts of drawers and highboys were now and again enlivened with painted patterns of flowers and leaves. Doubtless the inspiration for some of this species of ornament came from the ja- 244 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS panned or lacquered pieces, so popular in England in the latter part of the seventeenth century and the early part of the eighteenth. Some of them, of course, found their way to America, and examples are not wanting of fairly sucessful attempts, on the part of American craftsmen, to emulate the lacquer work of contemporary British manufacture. In England, the art of lacquering was extensively practised by amateurs, with varying degrees of success, and no doubt the same was true in America, for London fashions found a very prompt echo on our side of the Atlantic, and, in all probability, a copy or two of Stalker and Parker's '^ Treatise on Japanning and Varnishing, ' ' published in 1688, reached Colonial readers. The execution of lacquer work, how- ever, was not extensively undertaken, and outside of New England few, if any, serious attempts were made in that direction. Thus, with the conclusion of the lacquer episode, we reach the limit of furniture paint- ing phases peculiar to New England. Other types of painted decoration practised there were shared with other parts of the Colonies. Before quitting the con- sideration of forms of decorative furniture painting peculiar to New England, however, a word must be added anent court cupboards, press cupboards or wain- scot cupboards, and their various mobiliary kin and descendants, which seem always to have been especially favourite subjects for painted decoration. The taste and precedent for such decoration are, in all likelihood, to be traced through England, Flanders and Holland, and finally to Germany, where, in the early seventeenth century, the cabinet makers, inspired by the elaborate and multi-coloured inlay of woods, metals, and stones or mosaic, wrought by Italian and Spanish artisans, DECORATIVE PAINTING 245 seem to have achieved brilliant results with paint, which offered a means of attaining, at little expense, little skill and infinitely less labour, some approximation to the interest and relief of design and colour produced by more complex decorative processes. In this connexion, in his book on the furniture of Colonial America, Mr. Lockwood calls attention to the frequent use of paint to enliven the mouldings, cornices, and turned orna- ments of early New England cupboards, and the occa- sional presence of stain or paint as a background to set off carving. It must also be remembered that not a few of the early cupboards or buffets were painted wholly white, or in some colour, and picked out or lined with gold enrichments. This was particularly apt to be the case when the cupboards were built into the walls or when they partook of architectural features in their form or method of ornamentation. The insides were usually adorned with paint and gilding, while the coved scallop shells that generally formed the arch at the top especially invited such decoration. New Yokk, Long Island, Northern New Jersey. In Dutch New York, and the Dutch parts of Long Island and Northern New Jersey, the painting of chests, chairs, stools, cupboards, and other articles of furniture was commonly practised. Chests in the Hudson Valley were rarely made of oak, as in New England, but were customarily constructed of pine or some other cheap wood and painted. Many pieces w^ere painted a solid colour all over, while the grace of design was added here and there as a relief. The great kasses or cup- boards were sometimes made of black walnut, but, for the most part, were of pine and painted, not seldom 246 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS with elaborate and ample decorative bunches of fruits, flowers, and ribbons. Pennsylvania German Work. One of the most in- teresting and strongly individual manifestations of furniture painting in Colonial America was that prac- tised by the Germans of Pennsylvania, to whose singu- arly fertile perpetuation of traditions, transplanted from their fatherland, allusion has previously been made. A comparison of the painted chests and boxes to be found by roaming about in out-of-the-way corners of the counties where the "Pennsylvania Dutch" chiefly settled — 'Bucks, Berks, Montgomery, Lancaster, Lehigh, and Northampton — discloses a striking resem- blance to the painted furniture of Bavaria, character- istic specimens of which are preserved in the National Museum of Munich. While the colouring of the Penn- sylvania chests is sometimes more subdued, it is not universally so, and there is a close likeness shown in the method of combining the colours. There is also a remarkable similarity in the decorative motifs em- ployed — stiff, crudely drawn flowers and fruits, birds, and decorative bands. Of course, in the choice of de- signs, the "Pennsylvania Dutch" showed a local predi- lection for the tulip, which they never failed to intro- duce in every possible place, from tombstones to iron stove-plates or illuminated baptismal certificates. Other motifs, specifically mentioned in the chapter on slip- decorated pottery, were also employed in their fur- niture painting. Besides the conventional decorative panels and bands separating them, inscriptions were almost in- variably used as an additional embellishment. Some- times merely the initials of the owner or owners and DECORATIVE PAINTING 247 the date would aiDpear. Then, again, some homely motto in German text, expressing an aspiration, a religious sentiment, or a practical bit of advice in proverb form, would be employed in addition. The articles chosen for this kind of chromatic doc- oration were chests, especially the so-called dower chests, which the bride took with her, filled with ample store of household linen, to her new home, and the small wooden boxes, often of oval shape, which the groom customarily gave to the bride at or a little before the time of the wedding. These ' ' bride-boxes, ' ' as they are sometimes called, were filled with linen, laces, rib- bons, and other small finery dear to the feminine heart, for the personal use and adornment of the bride. Whether oval or round in shape — both forms were com- mon — the boxes are made of four pieces of w^ood — two in the box itself and two in the cover. The bottom and top are made of thin pieces of white pine of the required shape. The sides of the box and the rim of the top are made of single thin and pliable strips of the same wood, long enough to cover slightly more than the circum- ference of the bottom and top pieces and allow enough to lap over. Where the ends lap, they are pierced and strongly sewed together with split willow writhes or rattan, in much the same way that the caning of a chair seat is bound. The top and bottom pieces are fastened inside these bands with tacks or small nails. The inside is left unpainted, and the outside is coated with a solid ground colour — green, red, blue, yellow, or bro^\^l, as taste dictated. Upon this solid colour fanciful decora- tions in bright hues and flat treatment were lavished. Floral designs and birds were the favourite motifs, although representations of the human figure and in- 248 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS scriptions were by no means unusual. The human tig-ures sometimes present a valuable commentary on the costumes of the day. As in most of the German peasant work, tulips, pinks, fuchsias, doves, and parrots supply the chief themes for ornamentation, although other flowers, birds, and animals frequently appear as well. The execution is crude and the colouring often- times exceedingly bizarre, but the effect, nevertheless, is, in the main, agreeable and harmonious after its fashion, and the perpetuation of transplanted folk tra- ditions — practically all of this work was home-made and may l3e said to have been home-decorated — is made perfectly obvious. Other pieces of household equipment besides chests and boxes were also painted, although the greatest efforts seem to have been lavished in the direction just indicated. The vivid colours of these painted articles^ bright greens, reds, blues, and yellows were the fav- ourites — added a note of life and point of interest in any room where they were placed, and it is needless to say that they were cherished with a good deal of pride and satisfaction, not to mention sentiment. It is really remarkable to see how much variety the painters some- times achieved by the ingenious combination of com- paratively few colours. A comparison of several of the dower chests will show how closely the Pennsylvania furniture painters followed the spirit and tradition of the 'Old World in their work. One chest, to which we shall refer for this purpose, is an exact replica of a bride chest in the National Museum at Munich, the other was picked up at a country sale in Bucks. The Bavarian dower chest has a cream-coloured ground in which the bright-hued DECORATIVE PAINTING 249 flowers, figures, and bands stand out in strong relief. Tlie front of the chest is divided into three panels by- wide yellow, decorative bands. The stiff sprays of flowers and leaves in the side panels, springing primly from graceful little vases, are painted in strong tones of red, green, blue, and yellow, while the bunch of four plums with leaves, in the central panel, is done in plum colour and green. The chequered diaper-work in blue and yellow, at the bottom of the plum panel, is exceed- ingly effective. The letters J. V. C. A., in the lower corners of the two side panels, are presumably the initials of the contracting pair, and the figures 1705 doubtless show the date of the marriage. The panels at the ends are likewise fully decorated. One shows a quaint little man, fancifully arrayed in mediaeval cos- tume, leaning on a staff and an equally quaint little woman, in gown of the same period, presenting him with a nosegay. The other end has simply a floral design. The Pennsylvania chest is likewise divided into three panels in front. The body of the chest is a dull blue. That the decoration was ''home made" may be inferred from the ruled scratchings and carpenter's compass marks on the wood, made in laying off the spaces for the painted embellishment. The ground- work of the panels is cream coloured, and the flowers, lettering, and figures are done in reds, greens, and yel- lows that were once brilliant and glowing, but are now dulled by age and perhaps a degree of neglect and exposure. The panels at the ends are much marred, and the design is incoherent and almost obliterated. Quite enough is visible, however, in the decoration of the old Pennsylvania chest to show the general type of 250 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS painting in vogue and demonstrate the oneness of tradi- tion that supplied the humble painters on different sides of the Atlantic, and at an interval of eighty years, with inspiration to guide them in their task of adornment. English Work. The English settlers in Pennsyl- vania did not practise this style of furniture painting, but occasionally their work was slightly influenced by contact with their German neighbours. An instance of this is to be seen on an iron-bound strong-box, once the property of Robert Morris and now in the collection of the Pennsylvania Historical Society. The decoration was, in all probability, done either by a German colonist, working in Philadelphia, or else by an English colonist who had seen somewhat of the decoration done by the German settlers and recognised its intrinsic value. Tulips and birds of gay plumage are the motifs of ornament and are painted in the little squares between the heavy iron bands or straps. Windsor chairs and settees were almost invariably painted, dark green being a favourite body colour, although other colours also were used, and the decora- tion generally consisted of neat lining and banding in some contrasting colour or gilt. Towards the end of the eighteenth century and in the fore part of the nineteenth, wooden chairs and settees, with wide top rails and vertical slats in the back, of a common farmhouse type that is probably to be attributed, in the first place, to a Dutch origin, were painted with great care. A body colour was first applied — green, red, yellow, blue, brown, or grey — and lined and banded with black, and then the decoration, consisting of conventional designs, flowers in baskets or sprays of flowers, was painted on the wide, flat space PAINTED LEATHER FIRE BUCKET AND FIRE HAT Courtesy of Pennsylvania Historical Society PENNSYLVAXIA-GKli.MAX PAINTED "BRIDE BOX," EIGIITEEXTH CENTURY Frishmuth Collection, Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art PAINTED METAL TRAY WITH BUFF GROUND AND DARK BORDER, FLOWERED AND HATCHED; EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY In possession of Abbot McClure, Esq. EIGHTEENTH AND EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY TOLEWARE OR TIN WITH DECORATIVE PAINTING Courtesy of John C. Nippes, Esq., Haddonfield, New Jersey DECORATIVE PAINTING 251 of the top rail. This decoration was sometimes painted in black from a stencil pattern and sometimes in colours, with a touch of gilding added. Not a few of the top rails and cross rails of chairs and settees were dec- orated by the application of transfer designs, laid on in the same manner as decalcomanias. The metallic colours and the exact repetition of the same design in hundreds of cases prove this beyond peradventure. The painting of chairs and settees of both this type and the Windsor pattern was common throughout the coun- try. Chairs of a late Sheraton type also came in for a share of decorative painting. During the early nineteenth century — the American Empire period in furniture — the practice was prevalent of applying a stencilled decoration to furniture with gilt. Colours, too, were frequently included in the scheme of embellishment. The ornament was bestowed upon the top rails and cross-bars of chairs and settees, the top rails, seat rails, and rolled-over arms of sofas and couches, and the fronts of drawers. Lining was used wherever it might show to advantage. This liberal use of gilt was obviously a substitute for the elaborate brass mounts so characteristic of French Empire fur- niture, but the craftsmen managed to put a good deal of life and individuality into what, at first, was a mere cheap imitation, so that it came to ha\'e a distinct and legitimate decorative value. The gilding was some- times applied directly to the mahogany, but was more commonly used for the embellisliment of cheaper fur- niture that had been first painted with a body colour — oftentimes drab, olive green, or brown — and appro- priately lined. The gilded or painted and gilded pat- tern of decoration, stencilled, free-hand, or transfer, 252 EARLY A^IERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS was generally elaborate and embraced the motifs that were characteristic of the carving of the period- acanthus leaves, cornucopias, fruit, flowers, cords and tassels, drapery, swags and drops, the anthemion, and other designs that may be readily identified. When the work was done free-hand or stencilled, shading was accomplished by applying umber, sienna, or even black in the required places. MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS The wider general field of domestic decorative paint- ing, comprehending numerous small objects of miscel- laneous purpose and varied form, but of a decorative value equal to, or even greater than, that of the larger articles of furniture, has been little heeded except in a fugitive sort of manner and more by w^ay of allusion than by direct reference. We have, as a rule, failed to grasp the real character and full significance of these lesser furnishings, either because, as units of the resid- uary milieu of heirlooms constantly surrounding us, we have taken them as a matter of course, without par- ticularly noting their details — for most people see least what is right under their very noses — or else because they have only recently been rescued from the oblivion of garrets and junk-shops and paid new honours of appreciation by antique dealer and purchaser alike, both of whom, until a few days ago, were usually too much occupied with the bulkier and more substantial pieces of furniture to bother with '^ small rubbish" that was only one degree better, to their then way of think- ing, than the stuff sold in penny lots at country sales. Clock Faces. In the household gear of our fore- fathers the clock was a point of central interest for its DECORATIVE PAINTING 253 utilitarian value. It was but natural, therefore, that they should try to make an object towards which, of necessity, their eyes turned many times a day a point of decorative interest as well. Accordingly, they added the embellishment of painting to tall case, bracket, or hanging clocks, as circumstances permitted. The spot most available for ornamentation in the tall case clocks was the face, and there we find a variety of treatments, elaborate or simple, as fancy or skill dictated. In the eight-day clocks with the astronomical attachment, showing the lunar phases, there was always an excellent opportunity for painting jolly-faced, ruddy-cheeked, round-eyed moons, the rotundity of whose optics carries the beholder back to the Iliad and makes one think of the *' Ox-eyed Juno." Then there were the star- spangled spaces of dark-blue sky between the moon faces, and, occasionally, square-rigged ships that sailed majestically by on heraldically waved seas, as the disc revolved with the passing days of each month. In the spandrels, at the upper and lower corners of the dial. Father Time, hour-glasses, scythes, gay-plumaged birds, stiff little bunches of flowers or baskets of vari- coloured fruits oftentimes lent an additional touch of decorative attraction. Judged from a purely natural- istic and pictorial point of view, the painting w^as fre- quently villainously bad, but the decorative effect, nevertheless, was good, even when there was no attempt at conventionalisation and the canons of perspective or proprieties of anatomy were cast to the winds, and so the object really aimed at was fully accomplished. Clocks without the astronomical movement, but with a lunette or round arch at the top of the dial, especially invited the labours of the decorative painter. In the 254 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS semicircle or lunette of one old clock face an ambitious country artist — probably one of the German colonists — lias had the temerity to attempt a reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper." Viewed seri- ously, it is, of course, a caricature. The drawing is grotesque, and the colouring, done purely from imagination, is startlingly crude and garish. Never- theless, it satisfied the decorative cravings and the piety of its simple maker and owners, and it must be admitted that, when seen from a distance, it is not w^iolly ineffec- tive as a piece of decoration. The stiif little bunches of flowers at the corners of the dial, however, are much more successful and convince one that it would have been far better if the decorator, for his main embellish- ment, had stuck to the birds or fruit or some such un- pretentious subject, as most of the faces display. The faces are made of either wood or metal. Oftentimes the dials bear the name of the clock maker, so that the place of authorship is thus established, although, in some in- stances, the dial makers ' names appear to the exclusion of the clock makers ' names. It is not difficult to identify unsigned faces of native American origin, for the dec- oration is cruder than that found on imported dials painted in England or on the Continent. Paintings on Glass. Another sort of painting that challenges attention by numerous examples is executed in reverse on the under side of glass, so that the picture shows through. These glass paintings are found chiefly in panels in the heads of mirrors and on the doors of clocks of both the Willard banjo and Eli Terry bracket types. The finest painted or painted and gilt mirror heads are of English or French make, but a great many of the American efforts in that direction possess con- siderable merit, while others are crude and sometimes DECORATIVE PAINTING 255 frankly ugly and clumsy. Notwithstanding their faults, however, they all have a genuine decorative value. The panels that are only painted are apt to be hea\^ and blotchy in colour, w^ith a marked preference for strong greens, insistent reds, and staring whites. The draw- ing is generally poor and often childish, and the sub- jects are most frequently bits of local landscape, familiar to the painter, or merely isolated houses, trees, or fences that might be labelled "a house," "a tree," "a fence," and so on, and serve admirably for illus- trations of the old-fashioned spelling-books, to which, as well as to the examples of pictorial art seen on many of the samplers of the period, they bear a close resem- blance. At times, also, we find various historico-patri- otic subjects depicted, or perhaps a front view of Mount Vernon, and now and again the heads of Washington, La Fayette, and other Revolutionary heroes, sur- rounded with laurel wreaths, flags, and other emblems of military glory. The mirror-head panels in which gold decoration occurs are, in the main, somewhat better in execution than those that are merely painted. In such panels the design was first laid in with black paint, the drawing, of course, being done in reverse. Gold size w^as then applied to all the surface intended to display a gold backing. Gold leaf was next applied. This adhered firmly to the sizing and made it possible to wipe off easily whatever portions were not intended to remain. The next step was to run in the background of white or grey. The effect of such panels is often exceedingly chaste and refined. Tlie best were made in England and France and displayed high artistic merit, but a great many of real excellence wpre executed in America. It was the period at which classic feeling was para- 256 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS mount in artistic expression, partly owing to the in- fluence of the 'Brothers Adam and their emulators, partly to the more recent influence of the Empire style as set forth by David, Percier, Fontaine, and their con- temporaries. It is not unusual to find mythological subjects executed with Flaxman-like spirit, simplicity, and delicacy. These gold bases and black-line pictures stood out in strong relief against the background of grey or white and were exceedingly effective. In some of these mirror-head panels the greater part of the ground was taken up by a cross-hatched diaper pattern in black or black with gold rosettes, while a medallion or cartouche in the centre was reserved for more elaborate embellishment. American makers eagerly copied the decorations of the imported mirrors and produced work of all grades of excellence, some of it rivalling the performances of the British or French glass painters and some of it sinking to the level of puerile crudity. In the absence of accurate historical knowledge of the authorship of an individual piece, it is often possible to establish its American origin by the subject illustrated, and occa- sionalh" reliable tradition and internal evidence unite to confirm the attribution. A case of this kind is ex- emplified in one mirror-head whose frame is known to have come from Baltimore. The work on the frame is unquestionably American and is precisely similar to that on other frames known to have been made in Balti- more about the beginning of the nineteenth century. Added to this, the scene in the middle of the panel, pourtrayed in black lines with gold backing on a white ground, is, with the exception of a fanciful mountain across the water, exactly like what one might encounter in a thousand places along the shores of the Chesa- METAL CLOCK DL\L WITH ]'AIXTKD DEC- ORATION', EIGHTEENTH CENTIKV Courtesy of Mr. James Curran, Philadelphia BANJO CLOCK. GLASS PANELS PAINTED IN REVERSE. Early Nine- teenth Century. Courtesy of Mr. Richard W. Lehne, Philadelphia EAULV NINETEENTH CENTrUV MIRUOU TOP WITH HEAD PANEL PAINTED IN HE\ ERSE ON CiLASS Courtesy of Mr. Richard W'. Lehne, Philadelphia DECORATIVE PAINTING 257 peake. The style of boat, the low, bluff-like headland, and the little house of a Colonial type now fast disap- pearing, but still to be met with in out-of-the-way places, all contribute their share of cumulative evidence. On the doors of bracket or shelf clocks of the Eli Terry type the painting on the under side of the glass closely resembles in general character that of the panels in the heads of the numerous small mahogany-framed, upright mirrors of the early part of the nineteenth century. These clock doors are usually made in two sections, the upper containing the clear glass in front of the dial, and the lower displaying the painting. The banjo clocks usually had two painted panels, a large one on the shank between the base and the face and another on the square or oblong base. These panels were dec- orated sometimes with paint only, sometimes with vari- coloured paint and gold. The battle between the Con- stitution and the Guerriere and other equally stirring historical events supplied a favourite set of subjects for the adornment of these clocks and held their own in popularity with the imaginary landscapes. It is worth noting that these decorations painted to show through glass are being excellently reproduced in large numbers, and it is even more worth noting that the method is susceptible of extensive and successful adaptation for decorative purposes. The small paintings on the glass sides of the hexagonal hall lanthorns should not be forgotten. Paintings on glass of a distinctly pictorial nature — portraits, still-life, landscapes, and the like — enjoyed much vogue in England in the latter part of the eight- eenth century, and there were, here and there, attempts at the same form of artistic expression on our own side of the Atlantic. Occasionally one meets with examples 17 258 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS of this more ambitious style of glass painting, and now and then a small portrait turns up that seems to bear internal evidence of American origin. Metal, Leatpier and Small WooDEisr Objects. Dec- orative painting of the same general description as that previously noted, running largely to fruits, flowers, birds, and stiff little bits of landscape, was constantly employed for the embellishment of trays, bellows, can- isters, tin tea- and coffee-pots, and other small objects of household utility. Some of the most interesting and FiQ. 1. Painted Tin Box, red ground, yellow decorations. Late eighteenth century Pennsylvania German work. Property of Abbot McClure, Esq. agreeable examples are to be found on the trays, both large and small, which played a conspicuous part in dining-room garniture. The usual ground coloiirs were black, coral red, green, or straw colour, and the decora- tion was generally gold, black, or polychrome. Besides the trays, there were tea-caddies and small tin boxes designed for various odd purposes. All were regarded as fit subjects for painted decoration. Decorative painting on leather was chiefly to be seen on the water buckets belonging to the members of the old volunteer fire companies. Two or three of these DECORATIVE PAINTING 259 buckets, now liiglily prized as heirlooms, generally hung in a convenient and sometimes conspicuous place in the houses of the members, and, as almost every man of substance belonged to one or another organisation, they were familiar objects of household equipment. Curtains of glazed muslin were used as a subject for painted decoration, some of which was good, while other was but indifferent. It is interesting to note the present recurrence to landscape and other painted decoration for this same purpose. Bellows and sundry little boxes were the small wooden objects upon which the dignity of painted dec- oration was ordinarily bestowed. The study of these curious manifestations of early American decorative painting is leading to a growing and wholesome appreciation of the daily intimate en- vironment of our forebears and to the modern emula- tion of what was really good in their handiwork. Under all this painted decoration we can detect a sturdy spirit of self-reliance and honesty of purpose, and it is because the old fireside art had so much vigorous decorative value that it is still fresh and potent to influence us. Primitive and even grotesque it may be at times, but it all appeals to us with new force and living interest when we realise in a connected way what it really ex- pressed, and it also possesses the charm of stimulating inquiry into its varied sources of inspiration. Excellent examples of one sort or another are to be found in nearly every museum, and there is scarcely an antique shop that does not offer one or more speci- mens for purchase. The value of this old decorative painting as an inspiration to the modern crafts worker is too fully recognised to require any comment. CHAPTER X EAELY PORTRAITURE AND ALLEGORICAL PAINTING IN THE COLONIES UPON first thought, it may seem to be stretching a point to include portraiture and allegorical painting among the decorative arts, but a closer acquaintance with both, as commonly practised in the Colonies, will justify the classification. With the excep- tion of the work produced by a very few men, the pic- torial attempts of the Colonial painters are scarcely to be ranked in the realm of art, and if they are not con- sidered in their decorative capacity they would have to pass unnoticed, which would be a pity, for they repre- sent much honest creative effort, and by ignoring them we should be deprived of a source of considerable amusement. The modern schoolboy, the old Roman street gamin, and the early American painter all display one quality in common. The modern school lad, armed with a piece of chalk or crayon, defaces the sides of houses or fences with his crude but oftentimes vigorous pictorial fancy, for which inchoate expression of a deeply implanted human instinct he is chided by his law-abiding elders and roundly cursed by the owner of the disfigured walls. In precisely the same way did his youthful Roman prototype, two thousand years ago or more, give vent to his untutored artistic promptings in sgraffiti, to which we now attach importance for their historic value. In like manner did the early American painter, with no mean degree of perception, seize upon 260 EARLY PORTRAITURE 261 the salient characteristics of the subject he was minded to depict and proceed to put it on canvas as best he might with his limited technical equipment, producing results frequently full of \TLtality, however lacking in accuracy or elegance. The common quality alluded to, in which Colonial limner, Roman street urchin, and the sclioolboy of to-day all alike share, is vigour of con- ception combined with crude expression. The modern cartoonist, comic illustrator, and designer of pictorial advertisements are fully alive to the striking effective- ness of this primitive crudity and exaggeration and its appeal to popular imagination, and have assiduously employed it for their several ends at the risk of over- doing its commercial and comic usefulness. As an episode of pictorial utterance, this aping of juvenile crudity is not devoid of interest. Wliile we are amused, our attention is also focussed on what one might call aboriginal pictorial principles. We derive much the same sort of amusement from an examination of the early American essays in the fields of jDortraiture and allegorical or biblical painting, and, again, we per- ceive the bared workings of first principles in untutored hands. The gaucheries perpetrated attract us, of course, by their very naivete and quaintness, but the chief import attaching to a scrutiny of the first Colonial efforts lies in the ground it gives us for making com- parisons between the results of primitive endeavour among European colonists in the direction of pictorial art and the products of recent achievement. At the same time, an inspection of the infancy of American painting and the contrast it presents with subsequent developments is essential to a thorough and apprecia- tive understanding of our present art status. 262 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS There is no need to dwell upon Benjamin West — at least the mature West whose labours won recogiiition and patronage on both sides of the Atlantic — nor to survey the work of Copley, Gilbert Stuart, Charles Willson Peale, Rembrandt Peale, Sully, and sundry others whom one naturally associates with a period when American painting had reached a point where it was entitled to serious consideration on the score of inherent artistic merit. The names of these men are household words, and their pictures are familiar to all. Our present concern is with the pioneers who represent the incipient stages of painting in America when the course of pictorial art, like the course of true love, ran none too smoothly and there were all manner of obstacles to be overcome, a time of rugged, struggling, and not altogether promising infancy. Only a few of them can be mentioned here by name, but they will serve to indicate the general types that existed. Starting at the very beginning, there is the portrait of the pietist, Magister Johannes Kelpius, painted by Dr. Christopher AVitt, in 1705. This was the first por- trait in oils executed in America, and is now preserved in the collection of the Pennsylvania Historical Society. It is painted on hea^^ linen and pasted, like a flyleaf, at the beginning of a manuscript volume of hymns and other mystical religious effusions composed by the artist. Both subject and painter were quaint characters of unusual interest, and what the portrait lacks in technical excellence or artistic charm is made up in the remarkable associations attaching to it. Kelpius was the master or prior of the strange Rosicrucian com- munity, composed of German mystics or pietists, which, in 1694, founded its monastery on the wild banks of the PORTRAIT OF MAGISTER JOHANNES KELPIUS. PAINTED IN 1705 BV DR. CHRISTOPHER WITT The first portrait in oils painted in the Colonies Courtesy of Pennsylvania Historical Society FIREBOARD PAINTED BY EDWARD HICKS Courtesy of Morgan Bunting, Esq., Darby, Pennsylvania 2 o Q Z 9 o H O o a T5 a Z o 3 O O Q H Z I— I O EARLY PORTRAITURE 263 Wissahickon Creek, upon a tract of land within the present limits of Philadelphia. The arrival of these peculiar people on St. John's Eve and their kindling of the Beltane Fire, with its mystic rites, made a suitable and spectacular introduction for the curious touch of transplanted medin?valism grafted upon the life of the Colony so long as the brotherhood continued to flourish. The head of this extraordinary society, Johannes Kelpius, wasted by the practice of a too strict asceticism with its rigid fasts and long vigils in a damp cave, whither he was wont to withdraw for meditation and prayer, died in ITOG, at the age of thirty-three. Less than a year before the death of Kelpius, the portrait was painted by Dr. AVitt, who had just joined the brotherhood upon his arrival from England. In many places the paint has flaked off from the linen back and the hues are dimmed and not a little discoloured, so that it is now virtually a study in bluish greens and browns, but there is a vigour about the drawing that compels attention. Neither composition nor drawing is beyond criticism, the colour is muddy and depressing, and, even when fresh, could have had but little interest ; regarded as a work of art, the painting is clumsy and crude, but, nevertheless, there is such a quality of a rough-hewn boldness and honesty about it that one feels constrained to pay it more than merely passing heed. It is, to say the least, unpretty, but it is interesting and, if tradition may be trusted, is a tolerably faithful like- ness of the emaciated mystic whom we see clothed in a long, monkish gown or cassock and seated in a con- templative attitude in an armchair beside a lecturn. There are doubtless other pictures by Dr. Christopher Witt — chance may bring them to light at any time — • 264 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS for lie was a most versatile and productive person. Besides practising as a physician and ministering to many patients, lie found time to cultivate a garden of simples, paint pictures, as we have seen, make clocks — j30ssibly the first of native manufacture in America — jjlay upon the virginals and organ, the latter instrument being of his own construction, pursue the study both of the occult sciences and practical astronomy, and cast horoscopes for the children of the colonists. Another early painter who, as well as Christopher Witt, was also an organ builder was the Swede, Gus- ta\Tis Hesselius, who arrived at Christiana, now Wil- mington, Delaware, on May 1, 1711. A few weeks later he took up his residence in Philadelphia. In 1719 or early in 1720 he removed to Prince George County, Maryland, and received from the parish church of St. Barnabas ''the first commission on record for a work of art for a public building in America," the vestry engaging him in June (1720) to paint the church, ' * and in August following, ' to paint ye Altar piece and Communion Table, and write such sentences of Scrip- ture as shall be thought proper thereon.' " That the execution of this commission was satisfactory may be inferred from the fact that ''on Tuesday, September 5, 1721, 'the Vestry agrees with Mr. Gustavus Hesselius to draw ye History of our Blessed Saviour and ye Twelve Apostles at ye last supper . . . propor- tional to ye space over the Altar piece, to find ye cloth and all other necessaries for ye same (the frame and gold leafe excepted wch. Mr. Henderson engages to procure and bestow on ye Church) Mr. Hesselius to paint ye frame for all wch. ye Vestry is to pay him wn. finished £17. currt. money.' " In writing of Hesselius, EARLY PORTRAITURE 265 Charles Henry Hart observes that it * ' surely marks an epoch to receive more than passing consideration," "that more than seven years prior to the arrival in this country of John Smibert, who is commonly re- garded as the father of painting in the Colonies, an elaborate altar-piece of the 'Last Supper,' with thirteen figures — Christ and the twelve disciples — should have been commissioned to be drawn by a resident artist for a public building." Hesselius was a limner of no mean abilitv, as the paintings that may with certainty be attributed to him show, and he is not included among the pioneers of American pictorial painting to be pointed out as the producer of crude or grotesque canvases, but rather to show the difficult and precarious conditions by which the path of the early painter in Colonial America was beset and how he had to resort to divers expedients to hold soul and body together. 'By 1735 he was back again in Philadelphia, and in the columns of the Pennsylvania Gazette for December 11, 1740, appears the following advertisement: "Painting done in the best manner by Gustavus Hesselius from Stockholm and John Winter from London. Vig. Coat of Arms drawn on Coaches, Chaises, «S:c., or any kind of Ornaments, Landskips Sign Show-boards, Ship and House painting, Guilding of all sorts. Writing in Gold or Color, old Pictures cleaned and mended «S:c. " This advertisement simply meant that Hesselius had to come down to common sign paint- ing to make a living. It was, however, exactly what others had to do at a time when only a small portion of the public was sufficiently discriminating in taste to distinguish between art and paint by the square foot and only a limited number of patrons could afford to 266 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS employ an artist or to compensate him adequately. In England, too, it must be remembered, more than one great painter has been obliged to do signs for pot- boilers to tide over some struggling portion of his career. The only compensating feature of the situation, so far as artistic expression is concerned, was that coach and sign painting in the eighteenth century offered a far more varied and interesting opportunity to the painter than it has at any time since. Indeed, we are only beginning to appreciate the possibilities for doing fine work on the signs of hostelries and tea-rooms, and it is only within the last few years that several eminent artists have executed such signs for places in which they felt some particular interest. Hesselius and his contemporaries did such painting not from sentiment, but of necessity, and it is mightily to their credit that they closed their eyes somewhat to the purely com- mercial aspect of the transaction and threw themselves into the spirit of the thing, producing many really fine pieces of work, as the weather-beaten remains of old sign-boards still occasionally testify. It may readily be imagined how wide a field of design was open to the versatile painter when not only hostelries and ale- houses, but a great percentage of the shops also, dis- played signs to attract notice and give individuality at a time when street numbers were not much in use and it was customary for a tradesman to designate his place of business, when advertising, as located at the sign of the Blue Boar over against St. Paul's Church or the sign of the Three Loggerheads hard by the Pewter Platter. Besides the variety afforded by the execution of signs, there were coach doors to be blasoned herald- EARLY PORTRAITURE 267 ically and armorial bearings to be painted on hatch- ments or in some other form to be hung up in the churches, and, if we may believe old records, the display of such badges of family pride was often imposing in edifices like Christ Church, Philadelphia, King's Chapel, Boston, and several of the other important Colonial places of worship. While not despising these jobs, Hesselius also found other occupation for his brush, and seems to have travelled about from time to time to execute commis- sions, and doubtless there are many anonymous can- vasses in the Middle Atlantic States that might be ascribed to him, were all the facts known. In the hall- way of the Manor House at Croton-on-Hudson hang three full-length portraits that family records show to have been painted somewhere about 1715. Certain features of internal evidence indicate that they were painted on the spot and not done at some distant place. The name of the artist, however, has long since been forgotten and cannot now be discovered. The paint- ings were executed by a limner of some ability, and it is not impossible that Hesselius may have been their author in the period between his arrival in America and his removal to Maryland. While such men as Hesselius, who had the advantage of European training before their migration to Amer- ica, displayed far more capability in their profession than did our own native Americans prior to their cross- ing the Atlantic to study under competent masters, we must remember that not a few of the local forgotten and nameless painters whose crude and clumsy portrait efforts are to be found from New England to Georgia were practically self-taught and probably had as much 268 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS latent ability as their more fortunate and better tutored contemporaries who achieved eminence after a sojourn abroad. A comparison of their work with the early essays of our more celebrated Colonial artists of Amer- ican birth tends to this conviction. Despite discourage- ment from Quaker parents and relatives, who regarded the '^ vanity of likenesses" with high disfavour, Ben- jamin West persevered in his ambitions — all honour to him for so doing! — and finally succeeded in going to England to study, with wiiat results we well know, but many of the performances of his youthful period are sadly lacking in the qualities one might expect to find in the juvenile attempts of one who afterwards rose to such fame. As a case in point may be mentioned a little picture, painted in oils, on a piece of board, by West at an early age. In nearly every respect it is puerile. Of its authenticity there can be no doubt. Its pedigree, pasted on the back of the shingle, speaks for itself: ''Painted by 'Benjamin West before he left America for England. Obtained by Horace W. Smith from Mrs. Pennypacker (set. 90), in whose house, near Phoenixville, Pa., this daub had remained from the time it was painted. West was intimate in this house. Given by H. W. Smith to Dr. John H. Brinton, 1872." The picture is evidently one of West's very youthful per- formances and is correctly described as a ''daub." John Valentine Haidt was another painter who is almost unknown, but his crude portraits and curious allegorical pieces are fairly representative of the work produced by the generality of Colonial limners. He was born in Dantzig in 1700. His father was court jeweller in Berlin, whither the family removed in 1702. Being designed to follow his father's trade, he was EARLY PORTRAITURE 269 instructed in drawing at the Academy. Although com- pelled to work as a jeweller, he longed to be a painter, and in 1714 went to study in Dresden, in 1716 in Prague and Augsburg, in 1718 in Venice and Rome, afterwards visiting Florence, Paris, and London, in which latter city he established himself in 1724 and married. He later joined the Moravians and came to Pennsylvania on the church transport vessel Irene, landing in New York in 1754, whence he went to Bethlehem. While there he painted in oils biblical scenes, allegorical pieces, and the portraits of prominent Moravians. A great number of his canvasses may be seen lining the walls of the archive room of the Moravian Church, where their crudity seems singularly in keeping with the quaint surroundings and piles of musty, yellow documents. Anywhere else they would be out of place and some of them almost ludicrous. Judging from their abundance, one might fancy that Haidt had been under contract to paint by the dozen the portraits of these solemn old gentlemen and their placid visaged wives, Vv'ith preternaturally narrow and high corsage and tight white caps. Notwithstanding their crudity and their overpoweringly brown and sombre tone, there are occa- sional refreshing dashes of rich and vigorous colour and a certainty suavity of brushwork that show that Haidt imbibed and retained some of the elements of his previous instruction. In the allegorical and heroic field we come to Edward Hicks, a cousin of the famous Elias Hicks, of Jericho, Long Island. Born in 1780, in Bucks, Penn- sylvania, in which county he passed most of his life, Hicks presents the incongruous spectacle of a Quaker painter. West surmounted the obstacles of his Quaker 270 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS birth and training, but Hicks remained a rigid Friend, deeply concerned in the affairs of meeting, till his dying day. He seems, nevertheless, to have been able to reconcile his occupation with the principles of his sect, whose stricter members were generally averse to the frivolity of art. Perhaps Hicks 's failure to achieve anything worthy the name of art may account for Friendly leniency in his case. He died in 1849, and painted prolifically up to the time of his demise. Although his labours spread over the first half of the nineteenth century, their spirit of conception and execu- tion belong rather to the immediately post-Colonial period, when the exodus or financial ruin of large numbers of erstwhile affluent Loyalists deprived artists of much patronage and encouragement that they would otherwise have had. Although Hicks painted prolifically, he painted but three or four subjects, which he reproduced again and again in unending succession, sometimes on boards to be used as fire-boards, sometimes in smaller size on canvas to be hung on the walls as adornments — Heaven save the mark! The most favoured subjects were ''Wash- ington Crossing the Delaware," "The Signing of the Declaration of Independence," and "The Peaceable Kingdom." " The Peaceable Kingdom, " here repro- duced in its fire-board form, is really a chef d'oeuvre of grotesquerie. The ruddy-faced infant in pantalets leading the lion with an insufferably bored expression, while a phlegmatic fatling scratches his chin on the back of the king of beasts ; the truculent wolf looking daggers at the lamb and the spotty leopard; William Penn and the red Indians in the distance, making a treaty and quite oblivious of the menagerie in the EARLY PORTRAITURE 271 opposite corner— all these features are delightfully in- congruous. Incongruous, also, is the picture of the * * Signing of the Declaration of Independence, ' ' in which one of the august signers usually has three legs, while one of his less fortunate compatriots can muster but one, and another sits evenly balanced in a chair two of whose legs rest in space beyond the edge of a platform. Frankly hideous, clumsy, and grotesque as are so many of the efforts of pictorial art done by the lesser painters of Colonial and post-Colonial times, there is at least a sincerity of purpose about them that com- mands our respect, and, though we may not desire to possess them or to study them, hoping to find any great intrinsic merit, an examination of their shortcomings, at any rate, is calculated to increase our appreciation of conditions existing in our own day. CHAPTER XI EARLY AMERICAN DECORATIVE WEAVING THE old fireside crafts of the loom have a glamour all their own. By the very simplicity and dignity of their homely products they com- pel a far more general and sympathetic appreciation than many a higher type of art utterance. They afford a sincere expression of folk-spirit and indicate an in- herent love of beauty that effected a happy union, wherever it could, between art and common household objects of daily utility. Furthermore, a knowledge of the old fireside loom crafts, as they have been appro- priately called, throws an interesting and valuable sidelight on the intimate domestic life of the people during the early formative period of Colonial existence, a period we are somewhat too prone to associate with only the sterner and more strenuous side of nation building. Among all those ''homespun" crafts, none was of more universal practice than the decorative weaving of coverlets for the imposing bedsteads in which the eight- eenth-century housewife took such vast pride. In the seventeenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth centuries the bedstead was a far more conspicuous and important article of furniture than nowadays, when our modem notions of sanatory propriety prompt us to have the equipment of our sleeping-places as simple as possible. In the days of the Stuarts and during the reigns of William and Mary and Queen Anne, the magnificence of the pillared and canopied bedstead and its trappings was indicative of the rank or affluence of the owner, 272 : T-^ M e^^ ^Y^^ ^Yiy: ■DRAFT- ]i()()K OF JoHX LAXDE.S, WITH PATTERNS FOR COVERLETS Frishmuth Colleption, Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art HA\D\Vo\EN HLLE AND WHITE COVERLETS. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY Courtesy of John C. Nippes, Esq., Haddonfield, New Jersey BLUE AND WHITE HANDVVOVEX CUVEKLET>S, EIGHTEENTH CENTURY Frishmuth Collection, Pennsvlvania Museum and School of Industrial Art DECORATIVE WEAVING 273 while the truckle or trundle bed served for the children and domestics of the household. The elaborate em- broidered or brocaded hangings of the state bedsteads and the costly coverlets belonging to them were the objects of great care and esteem, and were so highly- prized that they were especially mentioned in inven- tories of household gear and bequeathed in wills. During the whole of the eighteenth century, the hey- day of the four-poster, bedsteads were regarded with special pride by our f oremothers, and their fitting equip- ment was a matter of much housewifely concern. In England the bedchamber not infrequently did duty as a reception room, while, in the Colonies, plenty of in- stances are on record where a great bedstead, fully garnished with valances, curtains, and coverlet, formed a part of the parlour furniture. Under the circum- stances, the mistress of the house, quite naturally, wished her coverlets to present the best appearance they might, and lavished a degree of pains upon them of which the modern housekeeper never dreams. To the average woman in the Colonies, the rich silks and damasks, employed by her more affluent sisters in England, were out of the question, but, with her char- acteristic resourcefulness and self-sufficiency, she set to work with the materials she had at hand and wrought fabrics that compel our admiration, both for beauty of colour and grace of design. These hand-woven cover- lets, which collectors and antique dealers eagerly search for to-day, were either entirely of home manufacture, the materials being spun, dyed, and woven by tlie women of the family, or else the threads, spun and dyed ready for weaving, were given to a professional weaver, who sometimes plied an itinerant trade, sometimes main- 274 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS tained a stationary loom. It is safe to say, however, that, while the textures produced by the men who fol- lowed weaving as their regular business often excel in elaboration of pattern those made at home, the latter almost invariably possess a superior charm of colour Fig. 1. " Draft " for Coverlet from " Draft " Book of John Landes. Frishmuth Collection, Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. and individuality, eloquent of the loving pride woven into warp and woof by their makers. Coverlet weaving was not a local craft, confined to one or two sections of the country, but was universally DECORATIVE WEAVING 275 practised from north to south, from New Hampshire to Georgia, and the patterns used seem to have been the common property of the women from one end of the Colonies to the other. While certain well-known de- signs appear to have originated or to have enjoyed unusual popularity in certain localities, at the same time one is just as likely as not to find absolute identity of patterns in coverlets woven at the opposite ends of the land, and oftentimes the identity extends to colour as well as pattern. Doubtless patterns or "drafts," as they were called, were passed on from one woman to another, and styles in coverlet designs travelled in much the same way as fashions in clothes. A knowledge of the decorative weaving employed in making coverlets was more or less general in European countries, and the wives and daughters of the American colonists preserved the traditions. Thus we may ac- count for the general similarity in the character of the coverlets, no matter whether they were made by colonists of English, French, Swedish, Dutch, or Ger- man extraction. In minor details of colour and pattern tlie influence of the maker's nationality is occasionally visible, but in major features a remarkable uniformity prevails. These coverlets were woven throughout the eight- eenth century and continued to be made in considerable numbers till about the middle of the nineteenth. Since that time their manufacture has been practically re- stricted to the mountain regions of the South, where so many old customs and forms of speech have lingered unchanged. The continuous vitality of craft traditions among the southern mountaineers may be understood when we remember that it is no uncommon thing to find 276 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS them speaking idiomatically and verbally and phoneti- cally pure Elizabethan English. The sterling craftsmanship value of these hand- woven coverlets has won modern recognition, and they u uu u 1 1 1 1 1 II J JUHU 1 lllll III 1 1 ■ 1 ■■ ' pilH H — 1 ill lllll BH 1 1 1 ■ d II 1 ■ ■ ■ ■■■■a !■ ■ ■ ■! ■■■ ■ ■■■ 1 ■■■■■■■■■■iHH^ ■■iHMI — ^^^■■■— ■— ■— — — ■! ■■■ ■ «■! ■ ■ ■ ■ ■! ■■■■■■■ ■ ■>■■ n 1 II 11 J 1 II 1 II ill 1 1 1 ZjMIIH 1 ill lllll 1 — 1 1 1 II 1 Fig. 2. "Draft" for Coverlet from "Draft" Book of John Lannes. Frishmuth Collection, Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. are now made by the Department of Fireside Industries of Berea College, in the southern mountains, and at Asheville, North Carolina, so that the tradition of their fabrication is sure of being conscientiously perpetuated. DECORATIVE WEAVING 277 Thanks to Eliza Calvert Hall's entertaining book,* pub- lished several years ago, closer interest and wider atten- tion have been directed to the old woven coverlet handicraft and the decorative and historic value attach- ing to the coloured spreads that once adorned the beds of nearly every house in bygone generations. The hand-woven coverlets consisted of a *' founda- tion of cotton or linen overshot with wool. " In a vast number of cases the flax was spun, the linen woven, the yarn made and dyed, and the coverlet woven by one woman, carrying out each successive process at her own fireside and using only such materials as the home farm supplied, for not a few of the eighteenth- century housewives were as expert with the loom as they were with the spinning-wheel, and they were like- wise adepts in the mysteries of the dye-pot and knew how to make strong and durable vegetable colours whose freshness time has been powerless to dim. A great many of the nineteenth century coverlets were woven by itinerant weavers who carried their looms with them from farmstead to farmstead and did the year's stint of weaving, just as the itinerant cobbler paid his annual visit and made the year's supply of shoes for all the household, from master and mistress down to swineherd and dairy-maid, but even till the time of the Civil War probably the majority of the women in the southern mountains and in remote dis- tricts of other parts of the country did their own weav- ing, and on many of the plantations in the South there was a room where an experienced slave spent most of the time weaving. Since so much of the coverlet weav- ing was done in this thoroughly individual manner, it •Hand Woven Coverlets: Little, Brown & Company. 278 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS would be strange indeed if the products of the isolated domestic looms did not show evidence of the weaver's originality in colour arrangement and combination of patterns, although the methods of work and the limita- tions of design formation necessarily produced a gen- eric similarity between the chief features of the spreads. The very act of decorative creation has always appealed to woman's imaginative faculty, from the time of Helen of Troy with her liandmaidens, deftly plying the silken threads, or Queen Matilda and her tire-women, pictur- ing on the Bayeux tapestry the story of the Norman Conquest, down to the day when the work-hardened hand of the Colonial farmer's wife drove the shuttle to and fro as she wove the coverings to adorn her beds. The individual sense of colour or harmony of design prompted many a housewife to act upon her own initia- tive and depart from the plan or 'Mraft" before her in the selection of her hues or the marshalling of her figures, thus, by the exercise of her inventive ingenuity, originating new patterns, to be handed on in due time to her neighbours and by them, in turn, transmitted to others, until, in time, they passed through the length and breadth of the land. The later coverlets, woven by professional weavers whose greater skill enabled them to deviate from the rigidity of geometrical devices and conventional re- peats, display patterns of great intricacy and elabora- tion, including human figures, birds, and beasts, as well as flowers, fruits, and foliage in profusion. It was customary to name the simpler geometrical designs such as were used from the earliest times by the housewives who did their own weaving or the more conservative itinerant weavers of the old school. Some- DECORATIVE WEAVING 279 times one design was known by two or three, or even more, different names in different parts of tlie country, and, vice versa, the same name was occasionally applied to different designs in different localities. Now and again these names were descriptive of the character of the designs, but more frequently they were purely fanciful and dipped into the realms of poetry, politics, history, or geography. We hear of "Sunrise," '* Checkers," "Stripes and Squares," "Maid of Orleans," "Rose in the Valley," "Washington's Victory," "Missouri Trouble," "New Jersey Dream," and scores of others. It is worth noting, while speaking of these old patterns and their endless variety of colour combination and design, that the weaves and, in many instances, the colour schemes have been adapted by some modern craftsworkers to the manufacture of both silk and mercerised cotton textures. The ' ' drafts ' ' or patterns which served as guides for both the housewife at her home-made loom and the itinerant weaver were sometimes fully worked out, so that a modern textile worker could follow them with comparative ease after a little study, and, on the other hand, sometimes they were merely indicated by cryptic signs and figures, somewhat resembling ancient musical notation, on narrow strips of paper or parchment, that to the uninitiated are as baffling and unintelligible as Egyptian hierogly]Dhics or the Runic inscriptions of the Norsemen. Occasionallv the colours as well as the pattern were indicated, but the chromatic choice was usually left to the discretion and taste of the individual weaver. The "draft" book shown in the illustration is in the Frishmutli Collection in the Pennsylvania Museum of Industrial Art, Philadelphia, and from the 280 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS internal evidence supplied by the paper used, the bind- ing, the ink, and the handwriting of the compiler or owner, it seems to date from the latter part of the eighteenth century. It is not unlikely that John Landes, whose name appears in the front of the book, was an itinerant Pennsylvania weaver, and it is quite possible that he took the pains to collect a large number of acceptable patterns and transcribe them in this con- venient form to carry about with him and show to his patrons, who could pick out ''drafts" to their taste. The colours most commonly used in these coverlets were blue, red, and white, but we also find a good deal of green, pink, yellow, and saffron, and sometimes other colours, too, make their appearance. The dyes em- ployed, as previously stated, were of home manufacture and were derived from vegetable substances, so that the colours are still fresh and vivid. The renewal of interest in vegetable dyes of native manufacture, now being successfully employed by numerous craft- , workers, owes not a little to the inspiration supplied by the chromatic beauty of the old coverlets. The Colonial American woman showed herself quite as resourceful in the skillful preparation of a wide range of fast dyes as she did in other particulars, and knew how to make cochineal, madder, Brazil wood, turmeric w^ood, indigo, peach-leaves, barks, roots, gums, and blossoms yield all their varied hues. When there was one of them she could not obtain, she always had a satisfactory substitute. The collecting and study of the old hand-woven coverlets is well worth while, both because of their intrinsic beauty of colour and pattern and because of the light they throw on an important domestic craft of BT.UK A M) W IllTK HAX1)\\<)\ KN (< i\ 1 ;i{ l.i: !>, I \ AND KICHTKENTH CENTrUlKS Courtesy of John C. Nippes, Esq., Haddonficid, l;i.\ MM.liU,.\Tll New Jersey LINEN TABLE COVER WITH WOVEN PATTERN, EIGHTEENTH CENTIRY Courtesy of John C. Nippes, Esq., Haddonfield, New Jersey HANDWOVEN WOOLLEN BLANKET; BLUE AND WHITE CHEQUERED HAND- WOVEN LINEN. EIGHTEENTH AND EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURIES Courtesy of John C. Nippes, Esq., Haddonfield, New Jersey DECORATIVE WEAVING 281 bygone days which never quite died out and which has been successfully revived, a craft susceptible of numer- ous api^lications to our present-day requirements. Home-spun- Linens. Vast quantities of the linen thread, spun on the wheels that whirled busily in every well-ordered household, were woven into sheets, table- cloths and bolts that could be cut as needed for clothing requirements. The quality of this linen varied accord- ing to the notions of the individual maker, but even the coarsest was a fabric of admirable character. The weaving was, in many cases, done at home either by members of the household or by itinerant weavers who went from farmstead to farmstead at stated times, set up their looms and stopped in the house until they had finished all there was for them to do. When the weaving was not done at home, the spun thread was sent out to be woven. Most of the linen was perfectly plain, but decor- ative effects in weave and colour were not wanting. In some instances a chequered pattern of blue and white was woven, the threads being dyed prior to the weaving operation {v. plate illustration). The writers have never met with other than a blue and white chequer pattern, but there is no reason that other colours could not have been used as, in all probability, they were. A woven pattern was also occasionally essayed with good results {v. plate illustration) in linen intended for table use. WOOLLENS Woollens of excellent quality were also produced by the Colonial weavers for blankets {v. plate illustration) and dress goods. 282 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS RUGS AND CARPETS Under the head of Colonial decorative weaving we shall include inigs and carpets for want of a better place . to consider them, although they w^ere not, strictly speaking, wholly woven products. The weaving of rag carpets and rugs can scarcely be regarded as a pur- suit of consciously decorative intent, although the re- sults were sometimes agreeable to look upon. The rugs and carpets (which were rarely more than large rugs) that come within our purview w^ere textiles only in the coarse canvas foundation or body upon which the dec- orative patterns were afterwards w^rought in vari-col- oured woollen yarns by hand, the finished product being a nap of chenille-like effect with colour and pattern not infrequently the same on both sides. Choice of col- our and design lay altogether within the discretion of the individual worker. One of the rugs shown in the plate illustration exhibits the predilection for diag- onals and bacillus-like scroll and leaf effects that ap- peared at times when the worker suffered under the disability of a jejune invention. In other instances the worker attempted simple geometrical or conven- tionalised floral repeats, sometimes Avitli commendable results both in point of hue and pattern. At other times the worker was not so conservative and modest in her aims but, like the '' Pennsylvania Dutch" women who wrought the little rug of the plate illustra- tion, embarked on an ambitious scheme beyond her pow- ers of proper execution and achieved a result jang- lingly garish in juxtaposition of magentas, scarlets and emerald greens and startlingly grotesque in design. Such pieces of handiwork may be interesting and quaint but cannot be esteemed for beauty. DECORATIVE WEAVING 283 It should be added that rugs and carpets of this hand-wrought and highly individual description, though met with now and again, are not numerous. DYES Reference has already been made to the skill of the Colonial housewife in making the dyes she needed and attention has been called to their variety, their beauty and freshness and the permanent qualities they exhibit, even after years of exposure and wear. There can be no more fitting place than right here to mention a compendious volume that must have been invaluable to housewives in the day of its publication for it is a veri- table treasure-house of weaving and dyeing lore. The title, somewhat formidable in extent, is as follows: THE DOMESTIC ]VL\XUFACTURER'S ASSISTANT AND FAlVnLY DIRECTORY, IN THE ARTS OF WEAVING AND DYEING COMPREHENDING A PLAIN SYSTEM OF DIRECTIONS, APPLYING TO THOSE ARTS AND OTHER BRANCHES NEARLY CONNECTED WITH THEM IN THE :NL\NUFACTURE OF COTTON AND WOOLLEN GOODS, INCLUDING MANY USEFUL TABLES AND DRAFTS IN CALCULATING AND FORMING VARIOUS KINDS AND PATTERNS OF GOODS DESIGNED FOR THE lilPROVKMENT OF DOMESTIC ]VL\NUFACTURES. BY J. & R. BRONSON. UTICA. PRINTED BY WILLIAM WILLIAMS, NO. CO, GENESEE STREET. 284 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS The following list of colours and the ingredients that entered into their composition is not altogether ex- haustive of the possibilities open to the woman bent upon brewing her dyes but it will sufficiently indicate resources and methods. If one substance was not ob- tainable, our resourceful foremothers could always make shift with some other. Red (Scarlet and Crimson) : Cochineal Madder Nicaragua wood Blue: Woad Indigo Larkspur flowers Garden purslane Yeixow : Fuatic Wold Turmeric Anetta Sedge grass (with alum) Peach leaves Smartweed leaves Alder bark Birch bark Brazil Wood Camwood Pokeberry root (solferino) Wax myrtle Knot grass Spiderwort flowers Walnut bark Hickory bark Yellow oak bark Lombardy poplar bark Sumac stalks Yellow locust Osage orange Clematis gold seal ( with Gbeen: Green, of course, could be produced in almost innumerable ways by combining blues and yellows in proper proportion, but the following also yielded desirable green dyes: Black oak bark Turmein or Meadow garlic (with lime) indigo) Orange or yellow root (with indigo) Black : Bbown : Logwood Butternut Nutgalls Hemlock Bugle weed Maple PENXSYLVAXIA GERMAX HAXDMADE RLCJ. EIGHTiOKXTII CEX TLKY Courtesy of II. L. Duhrins, Jr., Esq. HAXDMADE UIG: W < )K.STE1> <)X WoVEX lOl XDA 1 K )X. EKiHTEEXTII CEXTIRY Courtesy of Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art DECORATIVE WEAVING 285 With black and the three primary colours within their reach, it was a comparatively simple matter for the Colonial dyer to arrive at almost any hue she de- sired merely by the process of combination. The weaver, also, knew how to attain excellent and varied colour effects and gradations of weaving a warp of one colour with a woof of another. Mordants were, of course, necessary to fix the col- ours and for this purpose alum was, perhaps, the most universally useful. Although the average woman of the Colonial period was quite as ignorant of chemistrj% in a theoretical way, as is her granddaughter or great- granddaughter of to-day, she was, nevertheless, often able to extract three or four colours from the same substance by combining it with various chemical agents. This she had learned by experience or by oral tradition from her elders. Besides alum, sal-ammoniac, copper- as, veridigris and cream of tartar were servants ever ready to her hand. Note : For some of the homely recipes, giving min- ute directions for distilling and using the vegetable dyes extracted from common plants, the reader is referred to the Hand-AVoven Coverlet book, previously noted. CHAPTER XII THE ART OF ''FRACTUR" OR PEN-AND-BRUSH ILLUMINATION HEREDITY and tradition are two of the most potent forces to be reckoned in the shaping of human tendencies and actions. Deny the one and decry the other as we may, their influence, never- tlieless, is very real and shows its power in every phase of creative activity. By no means the least conspicuous workings of heredity and tradition are observable in matters of art. No more apt illustration of the vitality and long persistence of hereditary art traditions could be found than the endurance of a mediaeval illumina- ting process found among the Pennsylvania German colonists and perpetuated by their descendants, till quite the middle of the nineteenth century. This illuminating process was called "fractur" painting. In a previous chapter, devoted to a consideration of slip-decorated pottery, attention was called to the origin of these same people, their dominant characteristics, and their peculiar isolation from the other colonists by whom they were surrounded, an isolation that has con- tinued, in large measure, to the present day and made possible the vigorous survival of many customs and traditions which otherwise must inevitably have vanished long since. However little we Americans of English descent and tradition may know of the Pennsylvania Germans, and however slightly we may understand the ways and ideals of this "people apart" who, nevertheless, have been our neighbours for centuries, we cannot fail to be strongly impressed by the various manifestations of 286 c ?5^'^^P5)® -i .ir.' 3". r ~.T - f=#^ 4_4 rS: . If. 4?fr -n--- 'p~<^ a K- FRACTUR PAINTINGS EXECUTED BY THE RELIGIOUS AT EPHRATA. PENNSYLVANIA, EIGHTEENTH CENTURY Courtesy of Pennsylvania Historical Society THE ART OF "FRACTUR" 287 their art that come to our notice from time to time. Crude, very crude, it unquestionably is, but, all the same, there is a certain virility inherent in it and a fresh fertility of decorative sense that, despite all rudeness of form and execution, convince us that here is the genuine expression of a folk tradition transplanted from the Old World principalities whence these early settlers migrated to Penn's land of promise. This par- ticular instance of the perpetuation of old German craft traditions that forms the subject of the present chapter, cherished for many years with an almost religious veneration among the descendants of the early settlers from the Khine countries, shows that the his- tory of these folk is deserving of close study, and we cannot but feel regret at its discontinuance and the discontinuance of the various other crafts about the middle of the nineteenth century, when there began a process of assimilation to the ways of the outside world, a process now well on its way to completion, with the result that the manifestation of picturesque originality has been replaced by an all too evident and commercial vulgarity. Now and again, in examining the decorative craftsmanship of the old Pennsylvania German colo- nists, we detect the recurrence of motifs and methods of expression that unmistakably evidence a close relationship with the peasant art of 'Bavaria and some of the neighbouring provinces. The art of "fractur/' or pen-and-brush illumination, a form of painting once practised among the Germans of Pennsylvania and, in a modified form, adopted to a slight degree by some of the neighbouring English colonists, affords an intensely interesting revelation of folk-art about which next to nothing was known, out- 288 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS side of a limited local sphere, until comparatively recent years. This manner of painting is of deep interest, because it embodied the survival on American soil of a mediaeval art tradition that had virtually disappeared in Europe by the middle of the eighteenth century, in other words, the art of illumination practised by the monks of the Middle Ages ; because some knowledge of it explains many curious things that turn up from time to time in junk-shops and the purlieus haunted by col- lectors; because the quaint naivete in the colour and design of the specimens most frequently met with is fascinating; because, finally, it reveals the vigorous but wholly untutored decorative sense of a primitive people. It may seem a far cry from the mediaeval monastery to the woods of Colonial Pennsylvania, from the cell of the monkish illuminator, patiently toiling over the em- bellishment of a missal or breviary, to the little school- house or the cloister of the Pietist, where mystic and country schoolmaster alike adorned the pages of psalm- books or painted gorgeously coloured and fancifully designed birth and baptismal certificates, but the line of descent is clear and unbroken to prove that ^'frac- tur" was a survival of the ancient art of illumination, and the tradition cannot be denied. Besides being replete with the marks of a derivation from Continental sources, the pen-and-brush illumina- tions are engaging and varied in scope and application, as may be readily seen from the collections of such zealous collectors and antiquaries as the Honourable Samuel W. Pennypacker, sometime Governour of Penn- sylvania, or Henry Chapman Mercer, Esq., of Font Hill, Doylestown, Bucks, whose valuable monograph, en- titled ' ' The Survival of the Mediasval Art of Illumina- THE ART OF "FRACTUR" 289 tive Writing Among Pennsylvania Germans," read before the American Piiilosopliical Society in Septem- ber, 1897, contains a graphic account of the practice of the art and a classification of the several ways in which it was applied. Mr. Mercer has done more than any- one else to rescue the remaining vestiges of this folk-art from oblivion or utter destruction. Materials. A number of years ago, among a ** penny-lot" of miscellaneous trash that had come from a country sale, part of the contents of a garret in Bedminster, Bucks, Mr. Mercer discovered a roughly made, lidless paint-box, about a foot long and six inches broad, with several compartments containing glass bottles. For a long time the ' ' find ' ' baffled all attempts at identification, but it finally turned out to be the colour-box of a teacher in one of the German schools that had been maintained in Bucks till about 1840. The longest compartment was used to contain ''goose-quill pens and brushes made of the hairs of the domestic cat. The caked colours in the small bottles had been the home-mixed inks and paints of the schoolmaster, once liquefied in whiskey, and the varnish was composed of the gum of the cherry tree diluted in water. ' ' With this outfit the German schoolmasters were wont to instruct their pupils in the art of "fractur/' or illuminated handwriting on paper or parchment. PURPOSE AND SORTS During the latter part of the eighteenth century and the early part of the nineteenth this art flourished vigorously in the counties inhabited by the Pennsyl- vania Germans, and illuminated hymns and ornate title- pages of religious books were produced in great numbers. Although "fractur'' painting may be said to 19 290 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS have been of two sorts, the religious and the secular or semi-religious, for even the pieces that were not of an ostensibly religious character rarely escaped altogether from some trace of religious symbolic allusion, the art was undoubtedly derived from religious sources, was first practised in America with exclusively religious intent, and seems not to have been used ''for the dec- oration of secular themes, such as songs, ballads, or rimes. ' ' Whatever instances of its entire secularisation do occur are comparatively rare. ^'Fractur" found ex- pression in illuminated song-books, such as those made in the religious community at Ephrata; in the title- pages of small, plain manuscript song-books, often with the owner's name inscribed in a surrounding border composed of ''overhanging tulips or lotus, or birds and trumpet-blowing angels"; in rewards of merit on loose leaflets ; in book-marks ; in baptismal certificates, mar- riage and death registers in family Bibles or on sepa- rate sheets of heavy paper, and, finally, in the less com- mon essays at pictorial adornment to be framed and hung upon otherwise bare walls. The noticeable difference in the character and qual- ity of these illuminations is to be explained by their difference of origin. Those that came from the re- ligious community at Ephrata, for instance, are char- acterised by a certain refinement of design and dexterity of touch — they were evidently the objects of loving care and pride, and time was freely spent upon them — while some of those that emanated from the desks of country schoolmasters or were produced by their pupils were gauche and grotesque in form and colour to the last degree. In between the two extremes came all shades of excellence. Both sorts are shown in the accompany- ing illustrations. THE ART OF "FRACTUR" 291 Eeligious ' ' Feactub ' ' Work. — The Ephrata Paint- ings. A number of the designs illustrated are taken from books of psalm-tunes made by members of, or belonging to, the community in the cloister at Ephrata, in Lancaster County. They occur on title-pages, as single-page embellishments, interspersed here and there throughout the volume, and, above all, as decorations to fill the spaces between the ends of tunes and the margin. Double bars in the music were adorned with smaller illuminations of the same general character, and occasionally the tops and bottoms of the pages came in for a share of coloured enrichment. As stated before, coloured inks were used and w^ere applied with quill pens and fine cat-hair brushes. The colours were vivid and often employed in great variety. Then, again, in some specimens, only two or three colours w^ere used, and not a few of these simple schemed pieces are among the most artistic and elf ective to be found. In all the Ephrata illuminations we see the same marvellously minute pen-work that reminds one of the fine lines in old Persian miniatures. As an example of simple colouring, the dove design may be cited. It is executed entirely in green and blue of a subdued tone, so combined, however, that there is no lack of variety and interest. The big heart with the doves from ''Andenken am Schwester Martha" is effectively executed in black, vivid green, and carmine, while the lotus-like tulip, from the same volume, is done in black, green, brown, and red. This book also con- tains numerous examples of the diversity of intricate pen-work often employed. There are, for instance, many stippled or etched backgrounds edged with a fine line of bright green or rod, while the bold lettering in German text is cross-hatched or left in white. 202 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS The illumination from the manuscript music-book is a full-page illustration in olive, mauve, and green, skillfully combined to give great variety of colour effect. An illumination from the Ephrata Choral Book is exceedingly interesting, because of the simplicity of colouring and delicacy of drawing. The alternate petals of the pinks are of deep blue, while the lighter petals between them are of green, delicately dotted or stippled on the white ground of the paper. The doves are of a lighter blue, as are also some of the upper leaves. The black ink has become a mellow brown from age. Another small design is taken from a leather-bound blank receipt book which was turned into a hymn-book with characteristic thrift. There is no title-page, but a note on the flyleaf states that the owner, probably a member of the Ephrata community, bought it in 1817, and another note at the end states that it was finished in 1820. During this space of three years the one hun- dred and ninety-nine pages of closely written notation were transcribed and embellished with a large number of illuminations. The mere manual labour involved must have kept the scribe and illuminator busy a great portion of the time. The design is wrought chiefly in blue, red, and black. The alternate petals of the flowers are made of fine dots of blue and bright red, which, with plenty of white background showing, give the effect of pink. The dark petals are solid blue. The shank is diapered in red, black and white. Olive brown, a deeper browni, dark green, black, and bright green are ob- servable in the leaves. The chequer border at the bot- tom is made of green, black, red, and white ingeniously combined. i^\' ,!». ui," i;.vf'„M„c v'\«,»|"r.>...V.. 'KV, tmt^il" nil if-i\ii >\f|W.iurt. 0;.li.li«if '..r.r.i ^.. .^v^^:■v^«l,.I* xVr.vt;'... ■ if- ,,.H.M,,, 111. lJlorl^,|;r■iCv.■u^■i^■.. o'(,,,|;i.>'rv.<>«. ' j^ ,', i; .11 11... 1iibr.VV»ntflil! yOiai.lriMii.VV. T'i \'-i.nit. .ni 0.unii |t" rt*"' Kill (.-.ir I'l- f.tin.-ntfftil '.".V «i >/*i FWhI llf i^ "^iltClK ■:^- ^r **•.. PEN.WSVIAAMA GKRMAN BAPTISMAL CERTIFICATE OU TAUFSCHEIN, EIGHTEENTH CENTURY Courtesy of Pennsylvania Historical Society I'll iM 11 KECUUD, FHACTUR PAINTING. EXECUTED BY ENGLISH COLONISTS Frishmuth Collection, Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art THE ART OF "FRACTUR" 293 The Schoolmasters' Paintings. Of quite different staiiiiD and far inferior merit is the Taufschein, or bap- tismal certificate. In design it is involved and gauche, the execution is grotesque, and the plenitude of clam- orous reds and yellows is blatantly rampant. The lady angels at the top, loudly clad in alternate red and yellow stripes, are truly fearsome creatures. The central portion is filled with text giving the date of the baptism and also the date of the child's birth, most accurately recording the exact hour and minute. This punctilious solicitude about the hour and minute of birth is found in all these old records, and the entries were thus made for reference for astrological purposes ; in other words, so that the local astrologer might have accurate data for casting the child's horoscope. White magic — witch doctoring it is called — and the casting of horoscopes are still practised in rural Pennsylvania German communities. The baptismal certificate, just discussed, represents the opposite extreme of fractur expression to that executed by the religious at Ephrata. It is evidently the indifferent work of a country schoolmaster or one of his pupils. In between this extreme and the delicate, finished illuminations from the Ephrata cloister were paintings of all grades of excellence wrought by clever pupils and their instructors. There is little doubt that some of the potters who decorated the slip-traced and sgraffito plates and platters produced in the field pot- teries also tried their hand at illuminating baptismal and birth certificates, marriage records and death me- morials, book-marks, testimonials, and pictorial devices for wall embellishment with fractur painting. It is also highly probable that these same potters received 294 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS their first training in draugiitsmansliip and the prin- ciples of design, which they afterwards applied to the decoration of pottery, through their lessons in fractur painting as children or youths at the hands of village schoolmasters, for a course in fractur was reckoned one of the finishing touches in the curriculum. After the middle of the nineteenth century, when illumination or fractur was no longer taught in the Ger- man country schools and the art was rapidly dying out, substitutes for the hand-painted certificates w^ere printed in coloured inks, and were so dreadful that the kindest thing is to let them pass without further notice. Although the semi-secular application of fractur painting was reminiscent of religious inspiration, and the baptismal and birth certificates had their distinctly religious significance, they also served a purely secular jjurpose by being used as wall adornments. Secular '^Feactur" Work. Other fractur paint- ings there were, too, although few in number by com- parison, that w^ere devised altogether for ornament and had no religious inspiration whatever. Both sorts sup- plied a need in the homes of their possessors, who had practically nothing else in the shape of pictorial garni- ture. Human nature is the same the world over, and has not changed from the earliest times in its deeply implanted love of ornament. We see this innate fond- ness for decoration equally in the bone scratchings of the cave-men and the fractur paintings of the German colonists. The resources for wall adornment in Colonial days were not abundant, and in the houses of the ma- jority they were decidedly scant. The English colo- nists, besides samplers and little pieces of simple framed embroidery, had a few paintings on glass and THE ART OF "FRACTUR" 295 such edifying and gruesomely moral prints as ' ' Death and the Lady." The German settlers, with a child-like devotion to bright colours, rebelled against the un- broken austerity of whitewashed walls, and had their fractur paintings, which were certainly more worth while than the gliastly chromos and appalling crayons that have now taken their place in the houses of simple farmer folk. Of the secular pieces o^ fractur work, one of the most amusing is the apocalyptic fantasy, which exhibits in the lower part a behemoth with a murderous moutli, a blandly idiotic simper, and a pointed tail. His forelegs are black and his hind legs are red, and his claws are fearsomely sharp. His body is of a whitish yellow mottled with black spots, with red veinings running be- tween the markings, and he is evidently a long-suffering and patient creature, or else quite pachydermatous, for he seems not in the least to mind acting as a stage for the antics of the two slim and jaunty green-bodied, red- legged beasts, although the needle-like claws of one are jabbing his nose, which might supposedly be tender. Just what may be the full significance of these strange animals with pallid faces and rouge-spotted cheeks, furred or crocketed tails waving gracefully aloft, and tow^ering crowns set on their heads at a rakish angle, it would be hard to say. It would be equally difficult to determine the meaning of the heart-bearing vine growing from the behemoth's back, of the red and black rhapsodic birds fluttering above the beasts, or of the vixenish little parrot trying to pluck the tail feathers from one of the aforesaid birds. Surely there is no passage in the Apocalypse by which this pictorial ca- price could have been inspired. It has been suggested 29G EARLY AAIERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS that the theme might have been derived from one of the "•Lives of the Saints, ' ' but it is scarcely possible that the artist even knew of the Vitce Sanctorum. It might, per- haps, be explained by some old legend preserved in the heritage of folk-lore. Quite as vigorous and quite as ungraceful is the picture, about sixteen inches by twenty in size, of two women. This ' ' masterpiece ' ' is executed entirely in ink and is altogether devoid of bright colour, even in the nondescript tree at the left, with its top divided like the antennas of a beetle and its fruits and flowers alternating with extreme reg-ularity. Judging from the peering, inquisitive expression, of the younger woman and the didactic attitude of the elder, a lesson in botany seems to be going forward, based upon the portions of a plant which each holds in her hands. The lower portion of the picture has nothing to do with the upper. * ' Fractur ' ' Work by English Colonists. The birth certificates of the three Shinn children and of Caleb Lippincott are particularly interesting as showing the development of fractur painting when it got into the hands of English colonists. The Lippincott painting is still further interesting because it depicts one of the local sports, and the fox-hunters apparently wear the coats and caps of the old Gloucester Fox Hunting Club, which started a few years before the date of the cer- tificate and afterward became the nucleus of Phila- delphia's First City Troop. FoK THE Collector. Now and again these paintings may be picked up in the most unexpected places, and are always worth examining as specimens of an amus- ing and instinctive art episode and for the light they occasionally throw upon Colonial history or the man- ners of tlie colonists. Li his monograph Mr. Mercer Hi ; AlUGAlL.l > :)111XN >^ Hmma^mmm^ u ) i ii fwm BIRTH RECORD. FRACTUR PAINTING, EXECUTED BY ENGLISH COLONISTS Frishnmlh Collection, Pennsylvania Museum and School of Indust rial Art THE ART OF "FRACTUR" 297 observes that previously the existence of these illumina- tions had been *' little more than casually alluded to by any writer." With the exception of Mr. Mercer's ac- count, the same is still true, and comparatively few people have seen or know anything about them, although, in the counties where they were once 'made, it is by no means unusual to happen upon them in second-hand shops and at the country sales of household effects. Sometimes these specimens are of the sort once traced at Ephrata, but more often they are either semi- secular (birth and marriage certificates and the like) or else the secular wall embellishments. They are espe- cially numerous in the Mennonite and Dunkard com- munities along the Perkiomen and the Skippack Creeks and in 'Berks and Bucks. Besides the fractur paintings in the collections previously mentioned, there are some excellent specimens in the Frishmuth Collection in the Pennsylvania Museum (Memorial Hall) and School of Industrial Art, Philadelphia, and also in the collection of William Springer, of Kulpsville, Montgomery County. The old art of fractur painting contains the seed of suggestion for a modern development utilising the same processes and methods. No one, of course, would wish to emulate the grotesque and cliildish performances of many of the specimens, but a study of the Ephrata work reveals many points of substantial merit and a general character quite different, in conception and technique, from that of the small amount of ecclesiastical illumina- tion now being performed. A resumption of this deli- cate pen-and-brush work with coloured inks might be suitably carried but in the execution of such things as book-plates, place cards, and certain types of illustration. CHAPTER XIII HAND-BLOCK FEINTING ON FABRICS AND PAPER HE likewise cuts neatly in Wood and Printeth. Calicoes." So ran the end of an advertise- ment that appeared in a Boston paper, in 1715, setting forth the occupations of one Francis Dewing, lately come into the Colonies from London. Of this same Francis Dewing we shall hear more in a later chapter. A\liat concerns us here and now is the end of his advertisement, stating that he "printeth calicoes," a statement plainly indicating that the craft of printing desig-ns upon fabrics with hand-blocks made of pear- wood, or of some other wood, such as box, holly, or maple, was certainly practised at this date to a sufficient extent to make commercial mention of it worth while. Had not the good housewives of Boston Town b.een familiar with hand-block printing. Dewing 's announce- ment that "he cuts neatly in Wood and Printeth Cali- coes ' ' would have been without point. It is not at all impossible, in view of the other activities he also prac- tised, that he may occasionally have cut blocks and sold them for the women to do their own printing from. A competent housekeeper would have sufficient knowledge of making tlie dyes it would be necessary to use. Whether hand-block printing was done upon fabrics or wall-paper, substantially the same method was em- ployed. Printing on fabrics was a household craft and might be successfully pursued, as occasion demanded, by any woman who owned or could borrow the blocks. 298 HAND-BLOCK PRINTING 299 No doubt blocks were lent from one neighbour to another throughout whole communities, just as were the moulds for pewter spoons and platters. Hand-block printing on paper for walls was neces- sarily somewhat restricted in extent and specialised in the hands of a few craftsmen. In the majority of cases, when wall-paper was used, it was of imported origin, and the attempts at home manufacture in the hands of a country craftsman were primitive in the extreme, both as regards colour and pattern. Attempts at hand-block printing in colours on paper for wall decoration were not made in America until very late in the eighteenth century or early in the nineteenth, and, as the demand was so limited, owing to the presence of good imported papers and the fact that not nearly so much of it would be required as of printed fabrics, the hand-block print- ing of wall-paper in the Colonial and post-Colonial periods is practically a negligible matter, so far as any great results were concerned. Nevertheless, the speci- mens that have come down to us are amusing and show a decided spirit of independence and enterprise on the part of American craftsmen which ought to afford encouragement to the present craftsworker, endowed with infinitely superior facilities. FABRICS Materials Used. As we have seen from Dewing 's advertisement, calico was a favourite material for block printing. Besides this, linen, muslin, and. any kind of cotton cloth could be used. Most of the fragments that have been preserved are either of linen or calico. The colours were made from vegetable dyes, blues and reds being the usual favourites. 300 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS The blocks were generally about an inch thick and of any size and shape the design to be printed called for. A fine, close-grained wood had to be used so that the design could be cleanly cut: pear, maple, box, holly, bass, or gum was suitable for this purpose. The design was carved in bold relief with a smooth surface (Fig. 1), Fia. 1. Pearwood Handblock with design carved in sharp relief. Frishmuth Collection, Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. or else reversed so that the design was incised. The effect of the first was to print the design in colour on the fabric; the effect of the second was to colour the back- ground and reserve the design in white or whatever was the natural colour of the fabric before the dye was applied. Specimens of both are shown in the plate illustrations. Processes. The design was first drawn upon the EIGHTEENTH CENTURY PENNSYLVANIA BLUE AND WHITE HANDBLCJCK PRINTED LINEN; DESIGN RE- SERVED IN WHITE (UPPER); DESIGN PRINTED IN BLUE (LOWER) Frishmuth Collection, Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art BOXES COVERED Wnil J'UINTED PAPER Frishmuth Collection, Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art SPECIMENS OF HAND-BLOCK PRINTED BORDERS FOR WALL PAPER; EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY Frishmuth Collection, Pennsvlvania Museum and School of Industrial Art HAND-BLOCK PRINTING 301 uncut surface of the block or tracecl upon paper and pasted on. With a sharp knife it was then cut out and the background gouged out to a depth sufficient to insure a clear impression. Some of tlie blocks were large (Fig. 1), while others were very small (Fig. 2) and often of irregular shape (Fig. 1; Fig. 2, A and B). Simple figures, geometrical patterns, and flower-and- leaf designs were ordinarily employed. If more than one colour was used, there had to be an additional plate Fio. 2. A, Obverse of small Handblock. B, Section of same showing irregular shape and comparative thickness. C, Detail of same. Frishmuth Collection, Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. for each colour. As a matter of fact, in the home-done block printing more than one colour was very rarely used. 'Besides the block, there was a pad on which the block was charged before making the impression, and this pad was saturated with the dye, which had been mixed to about the consistency of cream and spread on the pad 302 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS with a brush. A little mucilage or glue was sometimes added to keep the colour from spreading, and a mordant was occasionally needed to set or fix the colour. The material to be printed was laid flat and fastened down, and then the impressions were made, moving the block along as the impressions covered the fabric. PAPER The processes in use for printing coloured paper were, as previously noted, substantially the same as those employed for fabrics. The main difference was that the paper was, for the sake of its decorative effect, printed in several colours and therefore required more blocks in the process. It was printed in very small sections, no larger than could be conveniently covered by one block, or by several adjacent impressions from one block, and these small and gaily coloured pieces were used for borders. Festoons of drapery and floral patterns were executed with more concern for trenchant hues than for refinement. The illustrations will give a fair notion of the wall-paper block printer's efforts. Printing paper in several colours in this way with small blocks necessarily consumed much time, to say nothing of the time required to put small pieces on the wall. It is not surprising, therefore, that it was used chiefly for borders only. The introduction of rollers or cylinders, with the repeat adjusted to one revolution, of course w^rought a complete change in methods. It is worth noting that the old wall-paper, both of domestic and imported origin, was habitually used to cover hat-boxes, cap-boxes, band-boxes, and numerous small boxes, which w^ere extremely decorative in their effect of colour and pattern. CHAPTER XIV EAELY AMERICAN WOOD AND STONE CARVING GARVINGr is the outward manifestation of a natural impulse. It is an impulse partly de- structive, partly creative, and partly decorative. The boy with a new jack-knife affords an epitomised evidence of the result of innate promptings, too strong to be resisted, to whittle and shape if the means and material be at hand. Wood first, and then stone, have always invited the craftsman to prove his prowess in the decorative manipulation of their surfaces. Examples of the early American carver's handiwork in both wood and stone are more numerous and varied than most of us, at first thought, realise. For speci- mens of wood carving, some of it of considerable ex- cellence, we must look to the furniture made by the colonists from the seventeenth century onward; to various small articles of household utility that were deemed worthy of ornamentation; to the figureheads of American-built ships and, lastly, to such portions of architectural woodwork as required or permitted carv^ed embellishment. Specimens of the last-named sort of carving are abundant in both exterior and interior application. For examples of early American stone carving we must turn to date-stones, inscriptions, and simple mural devices on old houses ; window and door trims and capitals of pillars; old milestones with heraldic devices, and last of all, tombstones and monuments. 303 304 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS The interest attaching to these evidences of the Colonial craftsman's handiwork in wood and stone is necessarily, to a great degree, historical and anti- quarian, in the first place, because in no other field of decorative activity do we find more convincing testi- mony to the continuity and perpetuation of Old- World craft traditions on this side of the Atlantic, and, in the second place, because they show the extent of Colonial achievement and stimulate our appreciation of a native craftsmanship whose best accomplishments we are too ready to attribute to an overseas origin, without taking the pains to inform ourselves of the real facts concern- ing them. Despite the comparatively limited scope of any modern application that can be made of these Colo- nial precedents and patterns, there are, nevertheless, not a few points in which they are pregnant with sug- gestions that we shall do well to study and ponder, both in the matter of technique of execution and in the uses to which carved embellishment was put. They also show, in most cases, notwithstanding certain minor crudities that occasionally appear, the strong innate sense of refined proportion so eminently characteristic of much of the work done in the seventeenth and eight- enth centuries, particularly the latter. Furthermore, they materially increase our esteem for the average ability of the Colonial artisan, and no account of the early arts and crafts would be complete if it did not include some notice of the labours of both wood and stone carvers. WOOD CARVING Processes. Before specifically directing attention to the several fields in which carved ornamentation was customarily employed, it is desirable to explain the '-^ier-' CAKVED, PAINTED AND GILT CllEULJiS A.ND BUUK, t.1710, UliGA.N GALLERY, GLOREA. DEE PHILADELPHE\ Courtpsy of Rector and Vestry of Gloria Dei, Philadelphia CAK\ED (AEUDUOK PANEL, INDEPENDENCE CHA.MHEK, STATE HOUSE, PHILADELPIHA WOODEN STATUE OF GENERAL WASHINGTON, CARVED BY WILLIAM RUSH OF PHILADELPHIA, STATE HOUSE. PHILADELPHIA WOOD AND STONE CARVING 305 varieties of carving methods and their points of difference. "Modelled" carving exhibits the design standing out in well-moulded relief from a surrounding back- ground that has been lowered by gouge and chisel (Fig. 1, A and B ; Fig. 2, A and B^. Close akin to modelled carving — indeed, it is only a further development of it — is ''carving in the round" ; that is to say, carving in which the figures, cleanly undercut, stand well forth from their ground (Fig. 3) Fig. 1. A, Side view. Wooden Handle of Pennsylvania German Pie Edge Cutter in "Modelled" car\'ing. B, Reverse Side of same. Friahmuth Collection, Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. or else stand altogether clear of it, being supported by some suitable projection from the rear, from below or from above. Excellent examples of carving in the round are ships' figureheads and carved finials or pend- ants of any description. "Fl.vt" car\^ing shows a design whose surface 13 flush with the uncarved surface of the piece of wood (Fig. 4) on which it is wrought. The relief is secured by a *'sunk" or sharply gouged-out groundwork, and the edges of the figures composing the dosi.gn nre not rounded off or modified in any way, but are left sharp and rectangular. 20 306 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS ''Scratch" carving is just the reverse of the forms of carving more commonly practised, in that the design, usually of simple character, is vigorously and sharply incised (Fig. 4). Kinds of Wood Used. White pine, poplar, oak, mahogany, and walnut were the woods most used by the American craftsmen for carving purposes. White pine was the wood used almost exclusively for purposes of architectural carving, and it was usually r\r\ Fig. 2. A and B, Carved Details from the John Penn Instrument Cupboard or PresB in the Philadelphia Library, 1739. Courtesy of the Library Company of Philadelphia. protected afterwards by a coat of paint. In a few instances poplar was used for the same purpose. Oak was used by the seventeenth-century carvers for both furniture and architectural embellishment. Ex- amples of both are shown. Walnut was used in the eighteenth century almost exclusively for furniture, but occasional instances of its WOOD AND STONE CARVING 307 architectural use may be found. It was also used for small objects of household utility (Fig. 1, A and B). Mahogany was used solely for furniture ; with rare exceptions for other purposes. Other woods than the four mentioned were some- times met with, but not sufficiently often to merit special notice. Furniture. So far as carved furniture is concerned, the best seventeenth-century examples are to be found in the oaken pieces of New England origin, which are. Fio. 3. Carved Pine Capital of Pilaster, undercut or carved in the round, Eighteenth Century. Collection of Pennsylvania Historical Society. to all intents, the same as the articles of contemporary English manufacture, save that, in the English work, there is, as a rule, greater nicety of finish. In the Bolles Collection, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City ; in the Boston ^luseum, and also in several smaller and private collections may be seen excellent specimens of this seventeenth-century American carv- ing in oak. It should be added that the Bolles Collection is especially comprehensive in this respect and affords typical examples of modelled, flat, and scratch carving. 308 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS The execution of some of the carving is so exactly similar to that of English pieces, both in point of technique and pattern, that its American authorship can be detennined only by the fact that it is wrought on American oak. It is but natural that semi-medireval (Fig. 4) and Kenaissance traditions of wood carving should be thus faithfully perpetuated on American soil, for the craftsmen who did the work were English to the core, no matter on which side of the Atlantic they hap- pen to have been born. Indeed, not only in the case of wood car^^ing, but also in most of the other crafts prac- tised in the Colonies, the obvious continuity of tradi- tional methods and processes forcibly brings home the FiQ. 4. Motif from Hftdley Cheat ehowing "flat" carving with tendrila wrought in "scratch" carving. New England, late Seventesnth Century. BoUes Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Citj-. realisation that, after all, we, through our American English forefathers — Washington and Adams, though the staunchest Americans, considered themselves also Englishmen to their dying day — have quite as ample and honourable a traditional background as our con- temporary British English cousins, even though we may sometimes have been oblivious of it and withheld our appreciation. The designs employed were, to all intents, identically the same on both sides of the Atlantic, although certain local preferences for one pattern or another are ob- servable in the New England work, just as they were WOOD AND STONE CARVING 309 in different parts of England, and occasionally we meet with a design that has no exact counterpart in English work, albeit the manner of execution does not differ from the customary processes. A notable instance of such a local peculiarity of design (Fig. 4) is found on the "Hadley chests." These chests are so called because a number of them seem to have been made in the vicinity of the town of Hadley, in Massachusetts. The device used for the decoration consists of a crudely drawn leaf and flower, carried out in the requisite number of repeats, wrought in flat carving, while numerous small scrolls or tendrils, the veining of leaves, and the divisions of petals appear in scratch carving (Fig. 4). This seventeenth-century method of carving, characteristic of the Stuart period in mobiliary par- lance, continued to be practised during the fore part of the eighteenth century. The other early American manifestation of carving on furniture is to be found on the walnut, cherry, bilsted, and mahogany articles in the Chippendale, Hepplewhite, Sheraton, Phyfe, and Empire styles, the best of which were made in New England, Philadelphia, and New York, where the most expert chair and cabinet makers and carvers seem to have been established. In these cases the carving is chiefly of the modelled or moulded variety, sometimes in the round, and rivals in excellence the work done by the English cancers of the same period. Those who wish to investigate the subject of furniture in detail are referred to ''The Practical 'Book of Period Furniture," by the present authors, and issued by the same house as this volume. Small Articles of Domestic Utility. Small wooden objects of household use were now and again dignified 310 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS with carved adornment. Such articles are more likely to be met with among the domestic effects of the Dutch and German colonists than among the goods of colo- nists of English or Welsh extraction. Good examples of these ornate minor domestic accessories are to be found among such articles as the carved hanging spoon racks or lepel-borties of the Dutch housewives, the brush-and-comb holders that hung beside the pumps in the wash-sheds or out-kitchens of farmhouses among the Germans in Pennsylvania, the razor boxes and shav- ing boxes, and the kitchen implements of both Dutch and Germans, such as butter moulds, tankards for cider, and the handles of pie markers. An excellent speci- men of this German peasant domestic wood carving appears on the handle of the pie marker (Fig. 1, A and B), from the Frishmuth Collection in the Pennsyl- vania Museum of Industrial Art, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. The design is characteristically German, and the carving is carefully executed and probably represents the winter evening industry of a farmer with a jack-knife, sitting in the light of a roaring wood kitchen fire. Shipwrights' Caeving. It was a matter of no small pride among seafaring men and merchants in Colonial times and in the early days of our national existence — • in fact, until the advent of steam put an end to the picturesque side of maritime life — to have their ships, barques, and smaller sailing craft adorned with elab- orately carved, painted, and gilt figureheads. The figurehead gave a stamp of individuality and, as a thing almost alive, seemed to personify the character of the hull and rigging behind and above it. Both pains and expense were lavished upon the carving of these pieces, CARVED WOODEN PORTRAIT BUST OF GENERAL WASHINGTON BY SAMIEL McINTIRE Cnvirtpsy nf Essox Inititiito, Salem, Massachusetts CARVED OAK FIREPLACE BEAM FROM HOUSE BUILT BY PHINEAS PEMBERTON, BOLTEN FARM, FALLSIXGTON ROAD, BUCKS, PENNSYLVANIA Courtesy of Pennsylvania Historical Society CAl;\i:i) WOOD BUTTER MOULD Frishniuth Collection, Pennsylvania Mu- seum and School of Industrial Art w ^^ hJ < > ^ o M G t) W W M H fe O ffi H d w o CO »— 1 •o ^ 3 O w o a o o d w o o m d S W S w o h W >H 0) m "S Q d o K m M a P -4^ K! **-< P o P >> 02 P a> o ^ =J << o Pi O w H H P PQ ^ W P o o ^ p w > Pi ■< o WOOD AND STONE CARVING 311 and they were boldly wrought in the round with a re- freshing degree of lively spirit. Their design and execu- tion alike do credit to their nameless and forgotten carvers, to whom we cannot help feeling that we owe a debt of gratitude whenever, in old seaport towns of our Atlantic coast or in the neighbourhood of ancient ship- yards, we come upon one of these relics of a bygone day, removed from its former place of honour and doing duty as an adorimient in some unfrequented corner. The least we can do is to remember with thankfulness the men who made them and the wholesome spirit in which they wrought. Somewhat akin to the Avork on the figureheads, though not so fine and executed for a purely commercial and land-lubber purpose, was the carving of Indians and other figures to stand by way of advertisement before the doors of tobacconists' shops. These figures belong to the nineteenth century. Some of them display considerable excellence of craftsman- ship in their execution. Architectural CARV^NG. Architectural opportuni- ties for wood carving were abundant and were not neglected. In the earliest Colonial period the oaken beams, posts, and studs of the half-timbered New Eng- land houses (the same that were afterwards encased in clapboard coats) (see **The Architecture of Colonial America," H. D. Eberlein, 1915, p. — ) were embellished with stopped chamfer edges and hand-wrought moulds executed in a bold and virile manner that clearly bo- spoke the persistence of the mediaeval wood-worker's methods. Brackets and corbels and the pendants or drops from the corners of overhangs were decorated in the same lusty fashion. Nor was the architectural application of the wood- 312 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS carver 's art in seventeenth-century America confined to Kew England. In some of the old houses in the other Colonies were to be found creditable examples of crafts- manship in this direction. One of them — and there were others — is shown in a plate illustration. It is a piece of oak and is wrought in the modelled type of bold relief, displaying such characteristics of technique as one is accustomed to find on the Jacobean cupboards, panelled chests, and wainscot chairs of English make. It bears the initials of Phineas Pemberton and the date of the house he built for himself in 1683 at Bolton Farm, near Bristol, in Bucks, Pennsylvania. With the increasing popularity of Georgian archi- tectural amenities during the eighteenth century, how- ever, the wood-carver 's art was called more frequently into play for purposes of both exterior and interior ornamentation, and, at the same time, was given a wider scope for displaying the niceties of craftsmanship. It has, unfortunately, been the custom of a great many people either to assert or assume that most of the finely wrought woodwork in our more ornate Georgian houses came from England, because they have heard, perhaps, that such was the case in some one particular instance. Nothing could be more unjust to the reputation and memory of our own Colonial craftsmen. An interesting bit of tangible and eloquent evidence of the American wood-carver's ability is the instrument cupboard or press made, in 1739, to hold the air-pump and other scientific apparatus presented, in 1738, to the Library Company of Philadelphia by the Honourable John Penn. Although a piece of movable furniture, this press is of such distinctly architectural character that it is to be ranked in the category of ''architects' furni- WOOD AND STONE CARVING 313 ture,"^ an important division of mobiliary equip- ment in the Queen Anne-Eaiiy Georgian period, and it is, therefore, appropriate that it should be discussed in this connexion. It was wholly designed and made in Philadelphia, and all the circumstances anent its con- struction are dulv recorded in the minutes of the Library Company. The carving of this press is an en- during tribute to the skill of the artisan or artisans who executed it, and any man who could accomplish such a piece of work could, beyond all question, have done any of the architectural wood-carving in the State House or in any other of our Georgian buildings, public or private, no matter how elaborate it is. With this incontrovertible proof of the ability of at least one wood-carver — there were doubtless other wood-carvers in the Colonies every whit as apt as he — there is a strong presumption in favour of the American crafts- man that the beautiful carved architectural woodwork of our Georgian houses and public edifices was the product of his hands, except in cases where the records show that the carvings were fetched from England. Certain it is that the examples of architectural carving of undoubted American origin compare very favour- ably with the work we know to have been brought over from the Mother-Country. In the latter part of the eighteenth century and the early part of the nineteenth, one wood-carver who ably upheld the traditions and maintained the reputation of the American craftsman was Samuel ^Iclntire, of Salem, master carpenter, wood-carver, and architect. Not only did his work compare more than favourably with any that was executed in either England or *v. "Practical Book of Period Furniture": Eberlein and McClure. 314 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS \merica in bis own day, but it bas stood tbe test of time and bas never bad to yield tbe palm for excellence to anv work executed since. Tbougb ranked as one of tbe foremost arcliitects of bis generation, and tbougb bis work bad far more tban a local influence on our domestic arcbitecture,^ wood-carving seems always to have been bis first love, and tbe fame of bis bouses rests on tbe beauty of tbeir embellisbments— ' Hbeir doorways, window frames, cornices, gate posts, and tbeir incomparable interior w^oodwork"— ratber tban on any otber quality. In summing up bis work, Mr. Dyer says of Mclntire : ' ' He was tbe artistic descendant of Inigo Jones, Sir Cbristopber Wren, Grinling Gibbon, and tbe Brothers Adam; be was also tbeir peer in originality as well as in fidelity to tbe best classic tra- ditions. More cbaste and severe tban Wren and Gibbon, be was more fanciful tban Adam. Perbaps it was bis very freedom from tbe scbools tbat gave bim faitb in bis own genius to do tbe tbing tbat best suited given conditions, and tbis faitb seldom led bim astray." Mclntire also tried bis band at sculpture to some extent, and executed in wood several medallion like- nesses of General Washington and a bust of Governour Wintbrop. Tbe Washington medallion was first de- signed and carved in 1805 as a decoration for tbe western gateway of Washington Square, in Salem, Massachusetts, and w^as fashioned ' ' after drawings from life made by Mclntire during Washington's visit to Salem in 1789." Another carver of signal ability was William Rush, of Philadelphia, bom July 4, 1756. He was appren- ticed to Edward Cutbush, ' ' the then best carver of his * See " The Architecture of Colonial America," H. D. Eberlein, 1915. CARVED AND PAINTED PRESS OR CTPBOARD FOR SCIENTIFIC INSTRU- MENTS, PRESENTED TO THE PHILADELPHIA LIBRARY BY THE HONOURABLE JOHN PENN, 173S Courtesy of Library Company of Philadelphia WOOD AND STONE CARVING 315 day," in Philadelphia. He specialised in carving figureheads for ships and his work elicited such uni- versal admiration both in British and in foreign parts that he received orders from England. His best known and, perhaps, his finest piece of wooden sculpture is the statue of Washington in the State House in Philadel- phia. The motifs employed in the Georgian architectural wood-carving were chiefly of classic provenance or else of Renaissance or Baroque inspiration, tempered by a classic spirit of interpretation. They included roses, rosettes, foliated scrolls, acanthus leaves (Fig. 3), eg^ and dart courses, urns with flame or cover tops, swags and drops of flowers or drapery, cockle-shells, pine- apples, masques, and, towards the end of the period, some of the more delicate Pompeian devices imported into English usage by the Brothers Adam. Nor are attempts wanting to emulate occasionally the more florid conceptions of the Grinling Gibbon school. W^e must also include in our chronicle of wood-carving the chubby-cheeked cherubs whose heads and wings often figured in the embellishment of Colonial churches and were usually placed somewhere near the pulpit or the organ loft. In nearly every case the old American wood-carver's work is executed with a refreshing bold- ness and freedom of sweep. Heraldic carving, too, w^as practised to some degree, and in more than one place the royal arms of England, carved and displayed dur- ing our Colonial period, are still carefully treasured. The objects upon which this architectural wood- carving was bestowed by way of enrichment were the brackets beneath stair treads, mantels and overmantels, pediments and overdoor adornments in general, door 31 G EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS and window trims, cornices, the capitals of pillars and pilasters (Fig. 3), and whatever architectural features or details were fitting subjects for ornamentation. Carving on the exteriors of buildings was, of course, not as abundant as carving for interior adornment, but it was by no means uncommon. Many old cornices, capitals, finial urns on the posts of balustrades and mas(iues still compel our sincere admiration. In reck- oning the achievements of the w^ood-carver we must remember to make a distinction between carving in wood and modelling in compo w^hen we come to examine some of the very elaborate mantels of the late Georgian period. Not a few of these mantels displaying exquisite Pompeian motifs of adornment which at first appear to be carved are, in reality, moulded in compo and painted after being set in place. STONE CARVING Processes. The processes used in stone carving were virtually analogous to those employed in the carv- ing of wood, or sufficiently so, at any rate, to make the same set of definitions answer in indicating the treat- ment of both substances. Kinds of Stone Used. The kinds of stone used by the Colonial and early post-Colonial stone-carvers were marble, sandstone, limestone, slate, soapstone, and, occasionally, granite and mica stone. Marble served both for architectural work^ espe- cially in the later period, and for carved tombstones and mural tablets. Sandstone and limestone were employed for both architectural and mortuary w^ork, but chiefly for the latter. WOOD AND STONE CARVING 317 Soapstone and slate were mainly used for tomb- stones. Slate could be used only for scratch carving and inscriptions. Granite was but sliglitly used, and tliat for archi- tectural purposes. Mica stone was occasionally used in Pennsylvania, both for rude architectural work and for tombstones, but it was not a kindly medium for carving. Architectural Carving. Two things militated against any extensive architectural development of the stone-carver's art among the craftsmen of the Colonial and post-Colonial periods. The first was the common lack of, or at least the difficulty of obtaining, suitable stone as a medium in which the sculptor might conveni- ently express his cunning. The second was the fact that, in the majority of our Georgian buildings, wood was ordinarily substituted for the stone or marble that was often used in England, so that there was little opportunity for the stone-carver to develop his craft in its application to the exterior embellishment of build- ings, and little encouragement for him to attempt to do so. In New England the native granite did not offer a kindly medium for the art of the stone-carver, and it is not surprising, therefore, that there are few examples of this sort of craftsmanship to be found upon any of the New England structures dating from the Colonial period. In New York and the Middle C^olonies the presence of sandstone was occasionally taken advantage of, and a few keystones and capitals were executed. In Pennsylvania, also, one now and then finds ex- amples of attempts at carving the native mica stone. 318 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS The most notable instance of this crude work, neces- sarily crude owing to the intractability of the material, is to be seen on the Bartram house, at Bartram's Gardens, Kingsessing, Philadelphia. There a date-stone in the western gable bears the inscription ♦' eEO::iQZ [God save] John and Ann Bartram, 1731" (the year in which John Bartram added to the structure origi- nally standing on the site). On the river front of the house are roughly wrought Ionic capitals to the pillars of the portico (a later addition), and carved window trims with an interesting inscription beneath one of the windows : It is God alone Almyty Lord The Holy One By me ador'd John Bartram 1770 Quaint little scrolls fill in the otherwise vacant spaces, as they also do on the earlier date-stone in the gable. Other specimens of carving in this native mica stone are to be found in the milestones set out in 1703 along the Lancaster Pike bearing Penn's arms in bold relief on a sunk ground, and on date-stones and wall devices, such as the tulip and heart or other mystic emblems, among the Pennsylvania Germans. Late in the Colonial period and in the early post- Colonial period, architectural carving in marble came more and more into fashion, and was wrought in the manner in which we of to-day are accustomed to seeing it treated. It was at this time, too, that some of the exquisite marble mantels of Adam pattern were carved. Others, also, were wrought in Empire designs at a slightly later date. CARVED MULBERRY; OVER- DOOR DEVICE FROM MUL- BERRY CASTLE, SOUTH CAROLINA, 171.5 Courtesy of Charles Brendon, Esq., New York City CARVING IN SIONL UNDER WINDOW, HAUTKA.M 1H)1>L PHILADELPHIA, WROUGHT UV ,J()HN HAKTRAM, KING.-~L>>U\e., 1770 ,v^^._ £^ ^: i''' EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY "SCRATCH- CARVED TOMBSTONE, ST. THOMAS'S CHURCHYARD, WHITEMARSH VALLEY, PENNSVTAAXTA ,v Va^ V- /^:> EIGHTEENTH CENTURY CARVED TOMBSTONE, NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND Courtesy of Henry Oothout Milliken, Esq. WOOD AND STONE CARVING 319 Tombstone Carving. If the early American stone- carver was limited in his architectural scope, he made up for his lack of opportunity in that field when he was turned loose on tombstones and mural tablets. Every old churchyard and burial ground in the country is full of the evidences of his prowess with the mallet and chisel. The choice of subjects, to be sure, was some- what circumscribed — cherubs, death's heads, skulls and crossbones, and hour-glasses, with and without wings, seem to have been the universal favourites — but he managed to inject not a little variety into his inter- pretations of these lugubrious emblems of mortality. There were dolorous cherubs and merry cherubs ; lean cherubs and fat, mumpy-cheeked celestial youngsters joyously fluttering their robust little wings; cherubs with curly hair and cherubs with head dresses, and, now and again, cherubs with their ambrosial locks done up in puffs that would have put the most proficient Parisian friseur to unending and envious shame. Occa- sionally the cherubs were dour of visage, and there is one creature, done in scratch or incised carving, on a mica stone in St. Thomas's Churchyard, Wliitemarsh, Pennsylvania, with a frilled head dress and three- cornered ears, whose aspect is positively devilish. No wonder Lord Howe's soldiers, when they were en- camped on St. Thomas 's Hill, used this vixenish object as a target for pistol practice. The majority of cherubs, however, were apt to be phlegmatic and stupid looking. In some cases tombstones were bordered with dec- orative bands of fruit, flowers, leaves, and, now and then, other motifs. The tulip was a favourite flower, and its use was not restricted to the Pennsylvania Ger- 320 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS mans, for instances of its employment have been found in parts of New England for tombstone enrichment. In a great number of cases the lettering on tomb- stones was of rare excellence, and the letters were shaped with such delicacy and beauty of proportion that they are carefully copied to-day by architects. Of course, the lettering was not universally good and some- times it was exceedingly poor, but, as a rule, it was at least creditable ; and, indeed, it had need to be, for when soapstone or slate were used, materials that did not readily lend themselves to sculpture, the lettering was the only decoration. As an agreeable change from cherubs and death's heads, numerous old tombstones exhibit armorial bear- ings, which it was comparatively easy to execute credit- ably when the material of the monument was either marble or sandstone. Urns also enjoyed considerable vogue as motifs of adornment. Mural tablets in churches usually displayed a far greater nicety of finish than the stones that stood in the open. The devices employed for their embellishment were of the same general character as those already mentioned — heraldic devices, urns, cherubs, and hour- glasses. CHAPTER XV EARLY AMERICAN LACE CONTRIBUTED BY MABEL FOSTER BAIXBRIDGE IPSWICH, situated on the Massachusetts coast, some thirty miles north of Boston, is the one place in the territory of the present United States where, in the early days, bobbin or pillow lace makers settled. That they came from the Midland Counties, north of London, is proved both by the town records and by the kind of lace that they made, a lace peculiar to the middle shires of England. The term '^ pillow lace" is applied to the particular kind of lace that was made on a peculiarly shaped cushion or pillow which, along with the other implements used in the craft of lace making, is described below. The settlers' hands were empty of implements to ply their craft when they came to America, but were skilled as are only the hands of generations of lace makers. Nothing thwarted, they made pillows, a sort known as a bolster pillow, about twenty-five inches in circumference and twelve inches long. These cylin- drical pillows they stuffed with hay, pounded very hard, using a heavy, hand-woven linen as a covering. A stocking leg was slipped over the pillow to keep it clean. The homespun and the stocking were gathered at the ends, but a hole was alwavs left so that the fingers could be inserted to turn the pillow. Into those holes the fastidious pressed lemon verbena, lavender, and other sweet-scented herbs. The pillow, when not in use, rested in a basket that kept it from rolling. The pillow 21 321 322 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS in tlie illustration is in an old Malay measuring basket. This pillow was used by Lydia Lord Lakeman, who was born in 1781. On it lie some of the old parchment pat- terns, and the pins are rusted in with age. A little bag was pinned on the back to hold the lace as it was finished. This little bag, and a cover that was always thrown over all, were of bright printed India cotton. In the Midland Counties of England, the previous home of our Ipswich settlers, the bobbins were dis- tinctive and decorative in character. They were made of bone or wood, deftly carved and often inlaid with silver or pewter, and they had one feature absolutely unique — ^bright beads hung from their euds. Ardent youths carved them for their sweethearts, and the his- tory of the bobbins on a single pillow might well fill a small volume. Apparently the Ipswich settlers did not bring any bobbins with them and, in making new bobbins, adhered to the Puritan principles that had guided them to the shores of New England, for they fashioned for themselves new, simple bobbins of bam- boo. These w^ere of varying sizes, cut about five inches long, with a wide groove whittled out below the head to hold the thread. The bobbins make a fascinating clicking sound as they are ' ' thro^vn, ' ' for, being hollow and of different sizes, they give forth different notes. Nowhere else in the world, to my knowledge, is another bamboo bobbin to be found. If we recall that Ipswich was an important Colonial seaport, and that the old town is full of Oriental treasures brought back by sea captains, we can understand how our lace makers were able to get bamboo. It doubtless came along with the exquisite china, embroideries, carved ivories, and other precious articles that husbands and lovers fetched home ..■;: .f\: -■;•,:. ,"n« PAKCHMKNf 1'.\TTI:k.\S <)U EE.VTIi CENTURY; BOBBIN •I'KICKING.S" FOR HiiHHIN LACK. LATE EICIIT- LACE PILLOW, WITH BOBBINtJ AND BASKET 1. Bobbin Lace made in Ipswich, c. 1880; a Survival of the Original Craft and made by Same Pattern and Methods 2 and '.i. Early Pieces of Darned Net Lace Made in Ipswich. EARLY AMERICAN LACE 323 to their dear ones on return voyages from India or Catliay in the stately square-rigged craft that have now, unfortunately, all but disappeared from our coasts. The original patterns or "prickings," as they were called, I have reason to believe, came from England. They are of sheepskin parchment, such as is used for drum-heads. Sometimes a ''pricking" is made from a single strip of parchment, and again it is pieced every few inches. I have seen writing and figures on pat- terns, showing that old deeds and other documents were pressed into service by the pattern designer or copier. The holes indicate the placing of the pins that make the pattern. The two rows of pinholes in the "pricking" of the illustration show that that pattern was made in two widths. Note, also, that there were no pins to hold the mesh; making the mesh without some such means of mechanical assistance seems to the modern lace maker a feat almost impossible of achievement. The pins used were fine lace makers ' pins ; at first they were all hand headed. The method of procedure was this — which is equally true of all bobbin lace, whether made in our Colonial wilderness or in the doorway of Oxfordshire's most ancient cottage: the pillow having been stuffed and pounded, a parchment "pricking" was pinned around the centre. If possible, the pattern joined so that it could be worked continuously. The bobbins were gen- erally wound by hand, although there were reels in which a bobbin could be inserted and a handle turned to facilitate a tedious process. A slip-knot was tied in the threads so that they would not unwind as they hung from the pillow, but could be lengthened by pulling the bobbin. The required number were tied to a few pins 324 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS and the weaving began. The stitch was simply an over- and under-weaving, with extra twists to form the meshes. After every stitch a pin was set, the position of the pin, as stated before, determining the pattern. An edge about half an inch wide required from thirty to fifty bobbins. The heavy outline thread, which is characteristic of 'Buckinghamshire lace, the kind that was made in Ipswich, is a loosely twisted flax. We have some that was never used, and it shows plainly the irregularity of a softly hand-spun thread. The early settlers were obliged to spin. In 1656, the records tell us, ''The select- men are to divide their towms into classes of five, six, and ten and appoint a class leader, for the purpose of spinning. Each family which can furnish one spinner shall spin thirty weeks in a year, three pounds of linen, cotton, and woollen, monthly. . . . The commons are to be cleared for sheep. The seed of hemp and flax is to be saved." This proves beyond doubt that they made their own thread. The lace was always made in strips, never in set figures. Although there are some wide pieces in exist- ence, most of it was narrow. It was extensively used on babv clothes and was known to our grandmothers as "English thread lace." If you are fortunate enough to possess a garret, seek out the little linen shirts which your grandmother made for her babies, and more than likely the hand-made lace which trims them, if not made in Ipswich, is the same type of lace, exquisite, dainty, and yet durable. The christening dress is surely ornamented with lace, and caps, both for babies and the grandmothers, were finished with more or less elaborate edges. The pins were used over and over again. As the EARLY AMERICAN LACE 325 worker progressed, she took out the first set of pins, and the lace held by these pins fell finished into the little India cotton bag. Bobbin lace used commonly to be known in England as "bone lace," and, although the reason has never been definitely ascertained, it has been suggested that the use of small fish-bones to hold the pattern, in the days when pins were very dear and almost unprocurable, may account for the name. Aunt Mollie Caldwell collected the Ipswich workers' lace once a week and took it to Boston by stage coach ; in exchange she brought back French calico, sugar, tea, coffee, and sometimes, surreptitiously, little packages of much-desired snuff. It was not alone the lace makers who were not paid in currency, for the town records, as far back as 1640, read that ' ' no persons are compelled to pay future debts in cash, but in cord, cattle, fish, and other articles." Goody Caldwell not only disposed of the workers' lace, but was clever enough to buy a bit from a peddler, prick off a pattern from it and give it to one of the workers to reproduce. Felt's Histor}^, published in 1834, states that "Lace of thread and silk was made in large quantities, and for a long period by girls and w^omen. . . . Black as well as white lace was manufactured of various widths, qualities, and prices. The females of almost every family would pass their leisure hours in such employment. In 1790 no less than 41,979 yards were made here [Ipswich] annually." Bobbin or pillow lace making is a most interesting and beautiful craft, and, altliough distinctly feminine, at the time of Queen Victoria's marriage, the peasants in the Midlands, both men and women, found it so much more profitable than tilling the fields that the plough was neglected for the pillow. Travellers often notice 326 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS the small hands of the Midland County people ; small they are, due to the fact that, for generations, tliey have made lace and not done hard manual labour. From these people came our American lace makers. A s chil- dren, they learned the craft at four or five years of age ; when they were too old to do much else, they were still able to work at their pillows. Most of the hand-made lace produced was either made by girls between child- hood and the time they married, when their lives be- came too full of other duties, or else it was woven by women who had brought up their families and found asrain a lull in their heretofore strenuous lives. An old lace maker actually loved her pillow; the bobbins were as full of associations for her as were the patterns she wove. Contrary to the general belief, the making of pillow lace is not hard on the eyes. I have some excellent pieces of work done by women over eighty years of age. Let us go back a little that we may understand the sudden appearance of an entirely different sort of lace in Ipswich at a somewhat later date. In England, about 1809, a Mr. Heathcoat perfected a machine that made a good hexagonal mesh, so that a yard of yard-wide net could be woven in the time it took to make six inches of inch-wide net on a pillow. The pillow lace makers naturally resented this innovation keenly. Indeed, they banded themselves together and took drastic measures to destroy these machines. So much damage was actu- ally done that many operators were driven out of employment and, between 1818 and 1822, a number of them emigrated to Ipswich, in Massachusetts, to be relieved of the constant annoyance they suffered in Nottingham and several other towns in England. The English government, realising the danger to British EARLY AMERICAN LACE 327 textile industries should those skilled emigrating work- men get machines, put an excessive export duty on the machinery, together with a £5UU fine or a long term of imprisonment for the offender. Despite all this, the important parts of the machinery reached our shores, hidden, I have read, in tubs of Yorkshire butter ! In a short time an excellent quality of net, both black and w^hite, was being produced in Ipswich. This net was the foundation or background for the second and later kind of lace, a lace made by darning the pattern in. The factory or headquarters for the lace makers was in one of the old houses on High Street, where many girls and women spent their working days. More, how- ever, did the work in their own homes. The bobbin or pillow lace making was a distinctly local industry, but the ''point net lace" (''point," be- cause the size of the mesh varied according to the size of the points on the machine) or Ipswich lace, as it was called, w^as also done in many neighbouring towns. The net was stretched on a large frame ; the pattern darned in with a glass-like thread, and the centres of the flowers and many other motifs filled in with fancy stitches. The first patterns were taken from the bobbin laces, and they were very good copies, too ; later a new style was developed with more attenuated designs. The work is similar to that done in Ireland under the name of Limerick. The same sort is made in large quantities in Italy and called Sicilian lace. Our bobbin lace makers, with their well-trained hands, were at once pressed into service on this new work and seemed quite ready to drop their pillows for the needle. Large quantities of net were darned, and to-day there is hardly an old family in Ips\^dch that cannot show some of their ancestors' work. The net 328 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS adapted itself to a variety of shapes, and, besides the edges of every known width and style, there are ex- quisite caps both for babies and old ladies, kerchiefs, collars and cuffs, and wedding veils and gowns. A straight veil that hung from the brim of the hat must have been fashionable, for I have been shown a number of these, both in black and white lace. The gowns w^ere divided into breadths and, even then, were a long, tedious task to make. The finishing of a large order was considered ample excuse for a village festival ; bed- spreads were hung from the window^s and the lace makers made merry. The darned not lace is really beautiful, but incom- parable, in a craftsman's eyes, with the earlier work of the bobbins ; the machine-made net gives it a somewhat commonplace aspect that an entirely hand-made article lias not. That infinite skill and patience are required to make the bobbin lace, one feels as wells as knows. At the present time no net is darned in Ipswich, that industry having succumbed to the entirely machine- made lace that one may buy so cheaply. The pillows, however, have never been totally relegated to the past. Fifteen years ago I found several women who still loved their pillows, even though the work they were able to do was very inferior to w^hat had been done a hundred years before. We formed a little industry and inter- ested other workers who attempted more elaborate de- signs. It is to be feared, however, that the old lace requires too much patience to gain a strong foothold in our busy American lives. There are, nevertheless, many kinds of bobbin lace that can be made and used in this everyday world that do not demand either end- less time or patience and that are still very much worth while. INDEX Accomplishments, feminine, 15 Adam and Eve, needlework, 91 Adam, inlluence, 133, 141), 154, 150, 250; motifs, 128; pattern, 318 Adams, John, 308; Pygan, 155 Albany, N. Y., 17, 32, 117, 118 Albarelli, 2(i Allegorical, pictures, 15; painting, 17, 200-27 1 AUoways, Creek, 30; Town, N. J., 31, 32, 35 Alloys, pewter, 200 ; and processes, pewter, 205-208 Alms basons, 103 Altar, frontal, 81; piece, painted, 204 American, glass, 16, 28-54 ; origins of dec. objects, 55 ; pewterers' list, 210; Philosophical Society, 289; silversmiths' list, 172-196 Americana, 14, 18 Ancient and Honourable Artillery Company, Boston, 109 Animals, samplers, 93; Blip-ware, 229, 233, -234 Annapolis, 119 Anthony, Joseph, 119 Apparel, wearing, 15 Apple corers, 140 Application, of paint, 241 Applique patciiwork, 98 Apprentice system, 121 Architectural, amenities, Georgian, 312; carving, stone, 317, 318; carving, wood, 311-310; feat- ures, samplers, 91-93; ironwork, 57-01; woodwork, 303 Architects' furniture, 312 Architecture, 127 Armorial bearings, 320; coaches, 265 ; hatchments, 267 ; silver, 164, 167 Arts, decorative, 14; conditions favourable to, 15; industrial, 14 Ashbv, Mass., 113 Asheville, N. C, 276 Astrologers, Colonial, 293 Aztecs, 20 B Badger, Thomas, 209 Badges, insurance, 72 liall feet, 150 r>altimore, 17, 32, 119, 256 Balusters, 242 Balustrades, 316 Bamper, Loderwick, 31 Bancker, Adrian, 149 Band-boxes, 240, 302 Banding, 250 Baptismal, bowls, 163, 203; certifi- cates, 293 Barber, Dr. L. A., 19, 107, 217 l>aro -< ilBRARYQ^ F-r lOSANCEl/^r.> Ml VK. .X fe< uj/M'ii Jn'' ?< i.tr > < m SO JO^ r- t I t r t~. t \ 30 4 'i^^OJITVDJO'^ .^.OFCALIFOff^ 1-^s^ ^^'/^Aavaani^ o -n O ?^vr >i , t „,,,.,., ueB^BV^SifX 000 289 886 4 3 1158 00837 6^ .■.li■j^^ ^OFCAIIFO- m S I Ri"//^ ~r o >)l 3 01^ %ii3AINf)jn> ^^^f.y.n.rnr,. ' J n jiM >ui t I r mm >rT\n . \ t; <_3 ^ S JU 'OiajAi^ii j\\>- AWEUNr -t. ^^.OFC .< T" 5=^ sov^^^ !JAINI1JV\V ^ ^^Advaaii-^^^ ^ iJi^ ^1 ANCElfx -< •aos-A'JCfifr> .^OF-fA! ^ iOF-CAl is- ^V\EUNIVEF, ^