548 
ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1958 
Maker Date Handle type 
dite) OTA ED UME nate ee eee oe . 1644-1683 Skillet. 
Robert Sanderson_______- . 1630-1693 Skillet. 
Rene Grignon =~ l222_- . 1691-1713 Huguenot. 
David! Jeasesl. at ori sh iy: . 1690-1705 Puritan. 
Jeremiah Dummer__-__-__-_ . 1665-1718 Huguenot, Puritan. 
John’ Coney=20 22 sae sore . 1676-1722 Puritan. 
Peter: @Oliver..2 202 S38 . 1702-1712 Huguenot. 
William Jones. 2222 es . 1715-1730 Puritan—Rococo transition. 
Jonathan Clarke_________ . 1734 Rococo. 
Samuel Edwards_-________ . 1725-1762 Rococo. 
Rufus Greene. 2007 ie a . 1727-1777 Chinese Chippendale. 
William Cowell, Jr_______ . 1733-1761 Chinese Chippendale. 
2. beter Olivers) ..2 52.0. . 1702-1712 Huguenot. 
Jeremiah Dummer___-_-__-_ . 1665-1718 Huguenot, Puritan. 
Samuel Vernon 2 s22-0222 . 1703-1735 Puritan. 
Andrew ylers):. 4th. 4 . 1712-1741 Rococo. 
John Edwards__________- ce. 1691-1746 Puritan, Chinese Chippendale. 
Edward Winslow_________ c. 1689-1753 Puritan, Rococo. 
In both lists the order of appearance of handles seems to be Skillet, 
Hugenot, Puritan, Rococo, Chinese Chippendale. In exceptionally 
long lives, like that of Edward Winslow or John Edwards, more than 
one type appears. 
Moreover, the marking of porringers suggests an erotic significance 
as the mark of the fertility of a married couple. Just as the tankard 
is closely though not exclusively associated with communion and the 
concept of election, the porringer seems to have marked another step 
in the hierarchy of the ideal Puritan life’ The point at which fer- 
tility was celebrated remains obscure. It seems to be marked occa- 
sionally after the birth of a single child, but much more often in 
middle adult years shortly after the birth of the last of several 
children.1® The occasional association of spoons might imply use at 
confinement for strengthening gruels. (PI. 7, fig. 1.) Since the ini- 
tials were most often those of man and wife and not of child, and 
since the dishes lacked the additional silver loop below and at right 
angles to the main handle commonly found in pap bowls, it can be 
assumed that the valuable silver porringer was like the silver tankard, 
principally a mark of status shared by man and wife and not a func- 
tional weaning appliance to be loosely handled by nurse and infant.?° 
The voids of porringer handles, while not altogether explicit in 
their iconography, represent an apparently conscious effort on the part 
33 Edmund 8S. Morgan, The Puritan family, p. 10. Boston. 1956. Samuel Willard. A 
compleat body of divinity, p. 679. 
#9 The conclusion is tentative and based upon published porringers and a cursory exami- 
nation of those in the Yale Gallery of Fine Arts and a comparison of makers’ work dates 
and owners’ life dates. 
20 This point has been largely overlooked, but of Bigelow’s selection of 12 New England 
porringers between 1685-1753, 7 have been attributed to man and wife, 2 are not identified, 
3 have other attributions. Bigelow, Historic silver, pp. 305-314; Ramsey Traquair, The 
old silver of Quebec, pl. III. Toronto. 1940. 
