(c) 2016 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

(c) 2022 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Pitcher

primary William Thomson (active New York, 1809 - 1845)

contributor Agricultural Society of New York (American, 1800 - 1832)

Dateabout 1821

Place MadeNew York, United States, North America

MediumSterling silver

Dimensions11.9 x 15.5 cm (4 11/16 x 6 1/8 in.)

ClassificationsVessels

Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Accession numberM17e19

eMuseum ID723557

EmbARK ObjectID12182

TMS Source ID1320

Last Updated8/9/24

Status

Not on view

Web CommentaryThe Agricultural Society of New York presented Isabella Tod Stewart this prize in honor of her horticultural accomplishments. Isabella Stewart Gardner adored her grandmother, a highly independent woman who successfully managed the family’s Long Island, New York, farm after her husband’s untimely death. Gardner displayed this cup in her museum alongside other family portraits and mementoes in the Short Gallery.

BibliographyNotesGilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), pp. 123, 126. (as William Thomson (1809-1845), dated about 1821)
Diana Seave Greenwald, "The Original Isabella Stewart," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 4 May 2021, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/original-isabella-stewart
Nathaniel Silver and Diana Seave Greenwald. Isabella Stewart Gardner: A Life (Boston, 2022), p.23-25, fig. 6-7.

MarksNotesIncised (side): Presented by the Agricultural Society of New York to Isabella Stewart, 2nd June 1821
Impressed (base): W. Thomson [marker's mark, William Thomson, New York (active 1809-1845)]
Incised (base): Stewart

ProvenanceNotesGift from the Agricultural Society of New York to Isabella Stewart Gardner's grandmother Isabella Tod Stewart (1778-1848), 2 June 1821.
By descent to Isabella Stewart Gardner, about 1848.