(c) 2016 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

(c) 2022 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Tea Mug

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

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

recipient Isabella Tod Stewart (Suffield, Connecticut, 1778 - 1848, Jamaica, Long Island, New York)

Dateabout 1828

Place MadeNew York, United States, North America

MediumSilver

Dimensions9.5 x 8.3 cm (3 3/4 x 3 1/4 in.)

ClassificationsVessels

Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Accession numberM17e21

eMuseum ID722843

EmbARK ObjectID12202

TMS Source ID1336

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 in 1828. 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 later placed 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)
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 N. York to Mrs. Steward (sic), 1828
Impressed (base): W. Thompson [marker's mark, William Thomson, New York (active 1809-1845)]

ProvenanceNotesGift from the Agricultural Society of New York to Isabella Stewart Gardner's grandmother Isabella Tod Stewart (1778-1848), 1828.
By descent to Isabella Stewart Gardner, probably about 1848.