550 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1958 
Regular quatrefoils appear on communion tables where their Chris- 
tian significance and association must have been understood.” Irregu- 
lar quatrefoils suggest knots, a well-understood symbol of marriage. 
On the other hand, many tombstone makers put on grave markers 
fully rounded bands of fruit and leaves. These fruits hang in pairs 
and have been described as pomegranates or figs. The one, the sym- 
bol of Resurrection, would be incongruous with the other elements 
of the porringer handle. The latter, a symbol of earthly prosperity, 
would fit the porringer in design and purpose. Figs would seem 
the most likely symbol since they might appropriately fit both the tre- 
foil and the quatrefoil of the Coney or Puritan porringer.” 
Tulips or lilies are the closest link to earlier styles and seem also 
to reflect a conscious symbolism. Their presence on a porringer as 
upon household articles suggests Christian love or even the ecstasy 
of divine revelation, a doctrine strongly emphasized by the Puritan 
concept of election. This correlation of physical love and the vision 
of divinity seemed, of course, a reasonable one borne out by the 
use of the tulip or lily on New England marriage chests. Moreover, 
this link is closely forged in the decorative motifs of Pennsylvania 
where the symbolism is made doubly apparent in poetic imagery. 
Combined with the tablets, hearts, trefoils and quatrefoils, and with 
initials most usually attributed to married couples, the porringer gave 
a very real and positive affirmation of orthodox Puritan doctrine 
which heartily applauded lusty and legitimate unions as the founda- 
tion of God’s chosen people. 
... Now a conjugal Love is that which is adapted for conjugal Society and 
by it Persons are fitted to a cheerful Discharge of all the Duties which belong 
to them in that Relation: Nor can they be truly and sincerely discharged with- 
out it. And as this Love is that which only can make the married state truly 
Comfortable and Happy ... and the want of it is that which makes so many 
Matches so unhappy as is too obvious among men.” 
The other piercings of this Puritan porringer are more controver- 
sial. Crescents have a nearly universal lunar symbolism and cer- 
tainly 17th-century poetry often refers to the moon as the 
guardian of lovers. Single circles are less clear. Often present, they 
may represent a simplified version of the flaming host often engraved 
upon English communion cups and the sun of Judgment Day common 
on tombstones, or, on the other hand, may only serve as a functional 
purpose in the design. Significantly, whatever their interpretation, 
they introduce no false note in the combination of Puritan symbols 
of love and scripture which fill the larger part of the handle. 
24 Wallace Nutting, Furniture treasury, vol. 1, pl. 811. New York. 1948. For an 
English example with grapevine and wheat(?), see Luke V. Lockwood, Colonial furniture 
in America, vol. 2, p. 169. New York. 1951. 
25 Harriette M. Forbes, Gravestones of early New England, 1653-1800, pp. 23, 28, 29, 
122, 123: Boston. 1927. 
26 Willard, Compleat body of divinity, pp. 679-680. 
