Artist/Maker
Jacob Hurd
1703 - 1758
DateCirca 1735
Mediumsilver
Dimensions2 1/16 × 8 1/4 in. (5.2 × 21 cm)
Donor credit lineODHS Purchase with funds donated by Helen Cook, 1982.
Object number1982.4
Institutional Credit LineCourtesy of the New Bedford Whaling Museum
DescriptionA silver porringer marked "Hurd" for Jacob Hurd (1702/3-1758) in an ellipse underneath the handle, has a flaring rim, domed bottom and keyhole handle. The patriarch of a prominent Boston silversmithing family, Hurd was one of the leading New England silversmiths of the mid-1700s and produced a wide range of tableware in the Queen Anne style. This porringer has a stepped and domed base with center punch on front; deep, curved sides rise to an everted rim; and a cast and applied keyhole style handle. The handle appears hand-cut rather than cast; and a central pin-point in the bowl with concentric radiating lines indicate that the bowl was formed by spinning. The upperside of the handle is monogramed. "W.R." for William Rotch, Sr, son of Joseph & Love Rotch. A silver porringer is a shallow, typically round bowl made of silver, often with one or two handles, and sometimes a lid. It's traditionally used for holding food, like broth, stew, or gruel. The busy New England housewife kept a cauldron of pottage cooking over a low fire on her hearth for days at a time, occasionally refreshing the batch with a handful of this or a few chunks of that as needed. Pottage was thus fast and frugal: not only did it use up food before it could go bad, but it cut down on the time women had to spend getting a meal on the table.
These shallow, straight-sided bowls with a flat handle on one side were a ubiquitous part of the colonial kitchen in the 1600 and 1700s before falling out of widespread use in the early 1800s. Porringers were popular in colonial households because they were incredibly useful. The single-handle design made it easy for busy wives and mothers to spoon-feed their infants after weaning, and equally easy for feeding sick household members or elderly relatives. The fanciest porringers were made from silver and had elegantly wrought handles made by expert craftsmen. Most households in New England colonies would have been able to afford more modest porringers, made of pewter, earthenware, or even wood. Fine silver porringers later became popular wedding and christening gifts among society’s upper crust in the late 1700s and early 1800s. When not in use, they were often hung by their handles on little hooks in a cupboard or shelf, as poet Jonathan Swift described in his 1709 poem "Baucis and Philemon."
Porringers went out of style around the 1820s and 1830s, mainly because of changes in the consumer economy and eating styles. The shift from traditional open-hearth fireplaces to cast-iron cook stoves allowed for more experimentation with different styles of cooking, including more multi-course meals. Inexpensive, attractive china or ceramic table sets replaced trenchers and porringers; forks established their place in the hierarchy of cutlery. Attitudes towards mealtimes also began to shift. Dinners, particularly among the middle class, became less rushed and more focused on sharing time as well as food, and all members of the household could expect an actual seat at the table. These changes didn’t happen all at once and they weren’t evenly distributed across all of society or all regions, but they did form a clear break between the colonial food experience and modern American foodways.
On View
On view
18th Century
1745-1925
20th Century
Danford, Thomas
