Beaker Maker: Jacob Hurd (American, 1702–1758)
Honorand: Mary Walker, 1672–1747

ca. 1747

American Decorative Arts

On view, 1st floor, American Decorative Arts before 1900

The will of Mary Abell Walker (1672–1747) of Rehoboth, Massachusetts, bequeathed "to the first Church of Christ in Rehoboth ten Pounds in New Tenour Bills to Purchase a silver Cup for the Communion Table." The church used the funds to acquire this cup from Jacob Hurd, one of the leading and most prolific silversmiths working in Boston in the mid-eighteenth century.

Medium

Silver

Dimensions

5 13/16 × 4 1/16 in. (14.76 × 10.32 cm, 296 g)

Credit Line

Mabel Brady Garvan Collection

Accession Number

1936.141

Geography

Made in Boston, Massachusetts

Culture

American

Period

18th century

Classification

Containers

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
Originally owned by Mrs. Mary Walker; Newman Congregational Church, East Providence, RI; Francis P. Garvan, New York, to 1936; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.
Bibliography
  • Patricia E. Kane, Colonial Massachusetts Silversmiths and Jewelers (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 1998), 585
  • Hollis French, Jacob Hurd and His Sons, Nathaniel and Benjamin, Silversmiths, 1702–1781 (New York: Da Capo Press, 1972), 32, no. 35, pl. 1, ill
  • Graham Hood, American Silver: A History of Style, 1650–1900 (New York: Praeger, 1971), 114, 117, fig. 114
  • Kathryn C. Buhler and Graham Hood, American Silver in the Yale University Art Gallery, 2 vols. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 1970), vol. 1, pp. 137–38, no. 160, ill
  • E. Alfred Jones, The Old Silver of American Churches (Letchworth, England: National Society of Colonial Dames of America, 1913), 163, pl. 57, ill
  • George Munson Curtis and Florence Virginia Berger, American Church Silver of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, exh. cat. (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1911), 76, no. 644, pl. 20, ill
  • John Henry Buck, Old Plate, Its Makers and Marks, 2d ed. (New York: Gorham Manufacturing Company, 1903), 257, ill
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

beakers (drinking vessels)

Marks

"Jacob Hurd" in two lines in cartouche (on bottom); "Hurd" in small rectangle (on side above inscription).

Inscriptions

"Jacob Hurd" in two lines in cartouche on bottom; "HURD" in small rectangle, on side above inscription. "The Gift / OF MRS. MARY Walker / Decd. to the First / Church of Christ / in Rehoboth, 1747" in double-lined cartouche surrounded by acanthus scrolls and pendant bellflowers, engraved on side.

Technical metadata and APIs

IIIF

Open in Mirador

View IIIF manifest

The International Image Interoperability Framework, or IIIF, is an open standard for delivering high-quality, attributed digital objects online at scale. Visit iiif.io to learn more

Linked Art

API response for this object

Linked Art is a Community working together to create a shared Model based on Linked Open Data to describe Art.