Sugar Tongs
Abel Jacobs, American, 19th century
about 1820-1830
Silver
Overall: 6 1/4 in. (15.9 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of W. Gordon Moody, Class of 1935
M.984.48.1
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
19th century
Object Name
Tools and Equipment: Food Service
Research Area
Decorative Arts
On view
Inscriptions
Marked, inside one arm: A. JACOBS [in rectangle]; engraved on bow: CTP [in monogram]
Label
Porringers are small silver bowls with handles inspired by floral motifs. A parent could hold the bowl’s decorative handle in one hand and still use a spoon to feed a child, making these small silver bowls popular as christening gifts among the upper class. The porringer in this case bears the marks of two silversmiths, Samuel Bartlett of Concord, Massachusetts, and Joseph Loring of Boston. Scholars have theorized that Bartlett may have made these pieces and that the more prosperous Loring, with his extensive inventory of silver and jewelry, retailed them to the larger Boston market. Other pieces of silver in this case include floral decoration, including the sugar tongs—a form inextricably linked to enslaved people’s production of sugar in the period.
Can you find the other flowers in this case? And yes, the Paul Revere who made these two spoons is the same one you read about in the history books.
From the 2024 exhibition Beyond the Bouquet: Arranging Flowers in American Art, curated by Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art
Exhibition History
Beyond the Bouquet: Arranging Flowers in American Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 18, 2024 - late 2025.
Provenance
Belonged to Catherine Tiffany (1769-1813) who in 1785 married the Reverand Davenport Phelps (1755-1813), grandson of the founder of Dartmouth College, Eleazar Wheelock. Donated by W. Gordon Moody.
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