Irish Silver in San Antonio, Texas

What better way to celebrate my birthday than to take a trip to the San Antonio Museum of Art to view its fantastic collection of Irish silver?  Guess what I didn't do?  Take photographs of the silver.  I'd like to attribute this omission to the fact that I was so overwhelmed by the beauty and rarity of the silver before me, but perhaps it has more to do with old age...

There were several pieces that especially caught my attention on this visit: the little cream jug by William Clarke of Cork circa 1725; the slip top spoon of 1655/56 engraved with the arms of the Stephens family of County Waterford; the covered sugar bowl by Peter Racine of 1736/37 that is just three inches tall; the pair of small tankards by Thomas Walker circa 1730, which sit on flat non-footed bases (I don't recall seeing a tankard without a foot); the two pairs of salts by John Hamilton circa 1730, which look like four small footed bowls instead of the more prevalent trencher type; the herb pot by Thomas Walker circa 1735, which is just exquisite in its smallness, with its tiny wooden handle and finial (you can have your very own one of these, as Weldon's has one for sale); and the four horseshoes given as racing prizes made by James Le Bas in1843.

One piece of silver in the collection, a flask by Thomas Walker circa 1740, is engraved with an inscription of "The Gift of / Will.m Jocelyn Shaw Esq.r / To / Gorges Lowther Esq.r."  This piece is of especial interest because I have a silver box presented by the Dublin Corporation of Weavers to Gorges Lowther.  You can read more about this box in an earlier posting here.  Not knowing any better, I can only assume that the flask and the box were presented to the same Gorges Lowther, Esq.  Another surprise was seeing a presentation box in the museum with the same arms engraved on the lid as on mine.  The museum's box was presented by the Corporation of Sheermen and Dyers (which must have been a subsidiary of the Corporation of Weavers, since it used the same arms) to Luke Gardiner.  The box is also by James Kennedy, and dates to circa 1775.  The style of the engraving on the museum's box is very much the same as that on mine.

In a previous post, I discussed a pair of Irish octofoil salvers separated at birth, one of which is in the San Antonio Museum of Art collection.  The other is with a private dealer and is listed as being unmarked.  After viewing the salver in the museum, however, it seems likelier that the salver with the dealer was marked, but that the hallmarks have worn away.  I posit this because of the three marks present on the museum salver, only John Hamilton's maker's mark of "IH" is discernible, and even then this mark is worn and the crown surmounting the initials is completely worn away.  One can see that there are two other marks present (the harp crowned and the date letter), but these are likewise extremely worn.  So, it is possible that the salver with the dealer was not originally an unmarked piece.

Seeing so many stunning and unique objects of silver in one place is almost overwhelming, in a very good way.  I didn't know where to look first.  Thank goodness my husband and I were the only ones in the gallery, as I just kept up a running commentary about the pieces and how wonderful they were, and how the engraving on a piece seemed to be later than the date of manufacture, and how I wished I owned this piece or that, etc., etc.  I often complain that Texas is devoid of good silver shops (there was a good one in Salado - they had a lovely Lamerie tankard - but they closed down due to the owners' health issues; the owners said that years ago, they had decided to purchase silver as an investment and that selling their collection over time had supported them financially), but how lucky Texans are to have such a world-class collection of Irish silver in their state.  And it's all thanks to Mr. John V. Rowan, Jr., who amassed these lovely pieces and donated them to be displayed at the San Antonio Museum of Art.