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MARK OF MYER MYERS, NEW YORK, 1754-1758
Details
A SILVER CANN
MARK OF MYER MYERS, NEW YORK, 1754-1758
Baluster form, the double-scroll handle with shell upper join, the base engraved with original monogram C*I, and I over WS*A; the base marked Myers (Barquist mark 8)
4¾ in. (12.1 cm.) high; 11 oz. (346 gr.)
MARK OF MYER MYERS, NEW YORK, 1754-1758
Baluster form, the double-scroll handle with shell upper join, the base engraved with original monogram C*I, and I over WS*A; the base marked Myers (Barquist mark 8)
4¾ in. (12.1 cm.) high; 11 oz. (346 gr.)
Provenance
Charity Johnson (1692-1758), to her son
William Samuel Johnson (1727-1819), married Ann Beach (1729-1796)
John Devereux Kernan Collection, circa 1961
The initials CI are those of Charity Johnson, wife of Rev. Dr. Samuel Johnson (1696-1772, Yale 1714) of Stratford Connecticut, first President of King's College (now Columbia University). Johnson was a leading founder of the Church of England in Connecticut and received his doctorate from Oxford in 1743.
Four other pieces of silver made by Myer Myers for Samuel and Charity Johnson have been identified; three of them bear the engraved initials CI as on this cann. The Myers group comprises a coffeepot, a waiter (or coffeepot stand), a sugar dish, and the cann that is the mate to the present example, illustrated in David L. Barquist, Myer Myers: Jewish Silversmith in Colonial New York, 2001, nos. 20-23. Two further sugar dishes by Myers are thought to have been ordered by Samuel Johnson for his son William Samuel Johnson (Barquist, nos. 24 and 25). A large beer jug by Myers is also thought to have been commissioned by Samuel Johnson as it descended in his family; certainly the survival of this impressive group proves that Johnson was one of Myers's most important patrons.
William Samuel Johnson (1727-1819), married Ann Beach (1729-1796)
John Devereux Kernan Collection, circa 1961
The initials CI are those of Charity Johnson, wife of Rev. Dr. Samuel Johnson (1696-1772, Yale 1714) of Stratford Connecticut, first President of King's College (now Columbia University). Johnson was a leading founder of the Church of England in Connecticut and received his doctorate from Oxford in 1743.
Four other pieces of silver made by Myer Myers for Samuel and Charity Johnson have been identified; three of them bear the engraved initials CI as on this cann. The Myers group comprises a coffeepot, a waiter (or coffeepot stand), a sugar dish, and the cann that is the mate to the present example, illustrated in David L. Barquist, Myer Myers: Jewish Silversmith in Colonial New York, 2001, nos. 20-23. Two further sugar dishes by Myers are thought to have been ordered by Samuel Johnson for his son William Samuel Johnson (Barquist, nos. 24 and 25). A large beer jug by Myers is also thought to have been commissioned by Samuel Johnson as it descended in his family; certainly the survival of this impressive group proves that Johnson was one of Myers's most important patrons.
Literature
John D. Kernan, "Some New York Silver of Exceptional Interest: Johnson Silver by Myer Myers," The Magazine Antiques, October 1961, fig. 1, p. 338
David L. Barquist, Myer Myers: Jewish Silversmith in Colonial New York, 2001, p. 105 (as whereabouts unknown)
David L. Barquist, Myer Myers: Jewish Silversmith in Colonial New York, 2001, p. 105 (as whereabouts unknown)
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