| Object ID |
A4805 |
| Object Name |
Tankard |
| Early Date |
1700 |
| Late Date |
1720 |
| Description |
This tankard is the oldest piece of silver in the Museum collection and bears strong Dutch characteristics since its maker, Jacobus van der Spiegel, born in New York, was of Dutch descent.
While still a young man, van der Spiegel saw militia service on the Albany frontier, and in 1692 married Anna Sanders in the Albany Dutch Church. Well regarded in New York, he served from 1694 to 1695 as an assessor and in 1698, as a constable. However, van der Spiegel was made a freeman in February, 1701, he was listed as a silversmith and, unfortunately, died at the comparatively young age of 40 in 1708. His work today is very scarce in view of his short working life and, over the years, much as doubtless been lost or melted down to make new objects.
Tankards made in New York, originally a Dutch settlement, were strongly influenced by Dutch silversmithing traditions and often were elaborately engraved, with applied cast decoration and elaborate base bands, and a rather low profile. These characteristics set New York silver apart from the silver of other American cities. This tankard, formerly owned by Jacobus van der Spiegel's brother, Hendrick, bears a skillfully engraved decorative crest or coat of arms of the van der Spiegel family. A cast relief ornament, a "lion couchant, " is placed on the handle just below the hinge, and the lower end of the handle bears a disc on which is placed a cast cherub's head. The base band of repeated stamped or rolled designs is indicative of New York silver of the period, below which is a line of applied meander wire, the details of which are almost lost due to repeated polishing.
One can only surmise what the design of the cover was when it was removed in about 1820 to be converted into the ladle shown with the tankard. A script cipher LVDS for Aura van der Spiegel, its owner, appears on the handle and the tankard bears the letters HVPS. For Hendrick van der Spiegel, on the handle below the lion. The tankard descended through the van der Spiegel family to a branch in Bennington and was presented to the Museum by a great-great-great granddaughter in 1951. The ladle was given to the Museum in 1966 by a direct descendant of the family.
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| Credit |
Gift of Mrs. Grace Seymour Roberts Reynolds |
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