Porringers were used in British and colonial American households to eat porridge and other soft foods. This example was made by the Boston silversmith Rufus Greene. It bears the initials T. E. G., which probably stand for Thomas and Elizabeth Gardiner Greene, who were married in 1727. Thomas and Rufus were brothers, and this porringer may have been made to commemorate the marriage. Greene was apprenticed to William Cowell, Sr., and the cast handle of this porringer is almost identical to the handle of a porringer by Cowell also in the Yale University Art Gallery's collection (1930.1253). The similarity suggests that Greene copied the handle of his master, or even reused the mold.