Several years ago, I visited the Irish silver collection at the San Antonio Museum of Art. The silver was donated to the museum by John V. Rowan, Jr., a native Texan born in San Antonio, and is a fantastic collection comprised of beautiful and unique pieces. Some items that stood out to me were the strawberry dish by Henry Danell c. 1724, the covered cream jug by William Homer c. 1760, the covered sugar bowl by Joseph Walker of 1717/1718, and the octofoil salver by John Hamilton of 1718/1719. In The Genius of Irish Silver: a Texas Private Collection, the salver is described as being engraved with the arms of Dawson, Castle Dawson, County Kerry with a scratch weight of 32:1 and a diameter of 11 7/8 inches (Davis 19, 33). Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any information on this family.
I recently purchased Christopher Hartop's book Geometry and the Silversmith: the Domcha Collection. In it, he describes the geometry of the octofoil salver as "the intersection of four ellipses with common centre" (15). When looking at silver, I note that a caster base might be octagonal, a salver circular or square, trencher salts rectangular with canted corners, a candlestick base hexagonal. However, I don't think I was ever really conscious of the geometry and math that goes into the craft of silversmithing.
Not long after my visit to the museum, I came across a salver on Firestone and Parson's website that looked identical to the one in the museum. The salver with Firestone and Parson is, however, unmarked, but bears the same armorial and is listed as being 12 inches in diameter. One would have to assume that these salvers are indeed a pair, and were ordered and made as such. The mystery is how and when these salvers became separated. That is a story I would love to know.
Note: See further information on this salver from my blog posting on a later visit to the San Antonio Museum of Art: Irish Silver in San Antonio, Texas
Sources:
Davis, John D. The Genius of Irish Silver: a Texas Private Collection.
Williamsburg: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1991; San Antonio:
The San Antonio Museum of Art, 1993. Print.
Hartop, Christopher. Geometry and the Silversmith: The Domcha Collection.
Cambridge: John Adamson, 2008. Print.
Coming to this a year late!
ReplyDeleteTwo points: First, I think that a small error may have slipped into the "Genius" catalogue. The Dawson family in question is probably the Dawsons of Castledawson, Co. DERRY (not KERRY). a quick visit to Google will supply lots of information.
Secondly, on a trip to Boston a couple of years ago, I saw the unmarked salver. The people in F&P are fully aware of its similarity with the piece in San Antonio and present it as the separated twin of that piece.
Thanks for your comments, GCdS. Yes, the county Kerry connection had me puzzled as well since a Google search turned up nothing on the Dawsons of Castledawson in Kerry. Thanks for the insight.
ReplyDeleteI also had a talk with the people at Firestone & Parson and, as they told you, they felt their salver was the mate to the one in San Antonio. It really would be interesting to know how they became separated.