by nrf@admin | Jan 3, 2024
The tankards made by Samuel Vernon’s workshop feature a heartshaped mark with a “SV” in the center. Although the mark of the silversmith may be on the piece, we don’t actually know all the craftspeople whose hands helped shape these pieces. Silversmiths and goldsmiths had highly skilled apprentices and enslaved persons working in their shops. And it’s important to acknowledge that many master Newport craftspeople had enslaved persons in their household—and the uncredited labor of these enslaved people contributed to the success of the workshops and the material goods they produced. Â
“LRP” is engraved on the handle and the scratchweight 29 ounces is marked on body and handle. Stamped with “SV” maker’s mark on body and handle.Â
by nrf@admin | Jan 3, 2024
This one-handled porringer, by Newporter Jonathan Otis, has an elegant, curvaceous form that was more decorative than functional. Porringers—originally used as something like a cross between a bowl and a cup—fell out of fashion in Britain by the time this porringer was made in the mid 1700s. But porringers remained a popular item in the British North American colonies as a symbolic gift marking important moments—like a christening or a wedding. On objects like tankards and porringers, families would often include genealogical details etched into the silver to mark anniversaries, or to celebrate accomplishments or significant dates.Â
Otis’s house is also in NRF’s collection of preservation properties, at 109 Spring Street.
