A silver two-handled cup John Dixwell (1680-1725), Boston, MA, circa 1715

Strap handles, molded base, marked, "ID," to body and underside.

H: 5 1/4 in. W: 8 in. D: 4 1/2 in., Weight: 11.32 oz. t.

Note

This cup came from First Congregational Church, Milford, Connecticut, where it was kept from 1715-2001. Reverend Peter Prudden founded the congregation in Milford in 1639. He was succeeded by Reverend Roger Newton in 1660, and Reverend Samuel Andrew in 1684. This cup is one of three two-handled cups made for the Church in Milford by John Dixwell, the other two having been donated by Newton's daughter and grandson (lots 453-454 from the Sotheby's Sale in 2002). Dixwell's father, John Dixwell, Sr. (1607-1689), was an English Parliament member and one of three responsible for condemning King Charles I, eventually fleeing to Milford, Connecticut. Given John Dixwell, Sr.'s proximity to and affiliations with Milford, it is probable this is the reason the Church commissioned his son to create the silver cup.

Provenance

First Congregational Church, Milford, Connecticut, 1715-2001

Sotheby's, New York, January 18, 2002, lot 455

The Collection of Roy and Ruth Nutt

Sotheby's, New York, The Collection of Roy and Ruth Nutt: Highly Important American Silver, January 22, 2016, lot 1331

Exhibition History

American Church Silver in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, with a few pieces of Domestic Plate, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, July - December, 1911, no. 315

The Early Plate of Connecticut Churches, Morgan Memorial, Hartford, Connecticut, 1919, no. 108

Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut, 1930-1972, long-term loan.

Literature

Jones, E. Alfred, The Old Silver of American Churches (1913), pg. 286, pl. XC

Kane, Patricia A., Colonial Massachusetts Silversmiths and Jewelers (1998), pg. 381