Two-Handled Cup

Jeremiah Dummer

ca. 1690 · Silver · The American Wing

This small two-handled cup was made for the First Church of Christ Congregational in Farmington, Connecticut by Jeremiah Dummer, the first native-born New England silversmith. One of seven silver drinking vessels originally owned by the Church, it is a particularly fine example, with lively S-scroll handles on a generous pear-shaped body, simply engraved with the initials F.C. With barely a roof over their heads, Colonists endowed their churches with communion silver that befit the simpler form of worship they embraced. This cup retains a beautiful patina, accentuating the hammer marks struck in concentric circles around its body.

Artist

Jeremiah Dummer

Date

ca. 1690

Medium

Silver

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Purchase, Louis and Virginia Clemente Foundation Inc., Robert and Bobbie Falk Philanthropic Fund, The Dietrich American Foundation, Bonnie Johnson Sacerdote Foundation, and Roy J. Zuckerberg Gifts, 2016