Dram Cup (Wine Taster)
Jeremiah Dummer, American (worked Boston, Massachusetts), 1645 - 1718
about 1675
Silver
Bowl: 3 3/8 in. (8.6 cm)
Overall: 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of Louise C. and Frank L. Harrington, Class of 1924
M.969.78
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
1600-1800
Object Name
Tools and Equipment: Food Service
Research Area
Decorative Arts
Not on view
Inscriptions
Marked inside, in center: ID [fleur-de-lis below in heart]; engraved on bottom, at center: ECE [C superscript, pellet below]
Label
The curved handles on this wine taster aid in handling, while also giving this diminutive bowl a surprisingly monumental presence. Its maker, Jeremiah Dummer, is the earliest American-born silversmith (or goldsmith, as he would have described himself) whose work has survived. He learned his trade from John Hull and Robert Sanderson Sr., both of whom were born and trained in England and came to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630s.
From the 2019 exhibition American Art, Colonial to Modern, curated by Barbara J. MacAdam, Jonathan L. Cohen Curator of American Art
Course History
HIST 9.01, America: From Invasion to Independence, Paul Musselwhite, Fall 2019
HIST 5.14, Americas: Invasion to Independence, Paul Musselwhite and Ernesto Mercadeo-Montero, Fall 2022
History 5.14, Americas: From Invasion to Independence, Ernesto Mercado-Montero and Paul Musselwhite, Fall 2023
Exhibition History
American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, William B. Jaffe and Evelyn A. Jaffe Hall Galleries, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 9-December 9, 2007.
American Art, Colonial to Modern, Israel Sack Gallery and Rush Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 26, 2019-September 12, 2021.
American Arts of the 18th Century, Colby College Art Museum, Waterville, Maine, August 7-September 30, 1967.
American Silver, Barrows Print Room, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 27-November 3, 1974.
Colonial Days, Brick Store Museum, Kennebunkport, Maine, July 30-August 3, 1963.
Ellis Memorial Antiques Show. Paul Revere life Insurance Company's Paul Revere Collection, Worcester, Massachusetts, October 30-November 4, 1961.
Exhibition of Early American Silver, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1925.
Harrington Silver Case, Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, August 12, 2009-present.
Harrington Silver Case, Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 1984.
Harrington Silver Case, Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 1-30, 1964.
Harrington Silver Case, Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 11, 1978-January 5, 1979.
Harrington Silver Case, Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 12, 1977.
Harrington Silver Case, Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire.
Harvard Tercentenary Exhibition, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, July 25-September 21, 1936.
Massachusetts Silver of the Colonial Period, Strauss Gallery, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 1972.
New England Silver at Dartmouth College: A Tribute to Frank L. Harrington, Class of 1924, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 3-August 20, 1989, no. 24.
The New England Silversmith, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island, October 23-November 28, 1965.
Publication History
Barbara J. MacAdam, New England Silver at Dartmouth College: A Tribute to Frank L. Harrington, Class of 1924, Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 1989, no. 24.
Colby College Art Museum, American Arts of the 18th Century, Boston, Massachusetts: Thomas Todd Company, July 1967, no. E15.
Hugh J. Gourley, The New England Silversmith, Providence, Rhode Island: Rhode Island School of Design, 1965, no. 61.
Kathryn C. Buhler, Massachusetts Silver in the Frank L. and Louise C. Harrington Collection, Worcester, Massachusetts: Barre Publishers, 1965, p. 11-17, ill. p. 15.
Harvard Tercentenary Exhibition, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University, 1936.
Hermann Frederick Clarke and Henry Wilder Foote, Jeremiah Dummer Colonial Craftsman and Merchant, 1645-1718, Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin, 1935.
An Important Collection of Early American Miniatures and Silver, no. 114.
Patricia E. Kane, Colonial Massachusetts Silversmiths and Jewlers, Hanover: University Press of New England, p. 385-391, 1998.
Provenance
Collection of Ezekiel Church, Vincent Lockwood (1872-1951), Mabel Brady Garvan (1885-1979), George Christian Gebelein (1878-1945), Dorothy Draper Hamlen (1890-1970); Guy Warren Walker, Jr. (1897-1978), November 30, 1946; sold to Frank L. Harrington, Sr. (1902-1988) and Louise Cronin Harrington (1904-2000), Worcester, Massachusetts, December 1959; given to present collection, 1969.
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