A SILVER PRESENTATION EWER

细节

A SILVER PRESENTATION EWER
MAKER'S MARK OF BALDWIN GARDINER, NEW YORK, CIRCA 1820

Vase form, on spreading circular base chased with a band of leaves, the knopped stem with guilloche band, the lower body chased with stiff leaves, the shoulder with band of anthemion and bellflowers, with leaf-clad scroll handle and rim with band of paterae and leaves, the base engraved with the presentation inscription A TRIBUTE OF GRATITUDE From John & Rachel Stevens of Hoboken to Thos. Brown Gautier M.D. 1820; marked under base
17¼in. high
(47oz.)

拍品专文

This ewer was presented by John Stevens (1749-1838), engineer, inventor, and pioneer in the field of mechanical transportation, apparently to his doctor. He lived in Hoboken and married his wife Rachel in 1782. Stevens was one of the first dozen Americans to obtain U.S. patents, which were for a steam boiler and a steam engine in 1790 and 1791. While fascinated by steamboats, by 1810 Stevens turned his attention to the application of steam power to railways. In 1825, at the age of 76, he built the first American steam locomotive, which ran on a circular track on Stevens's estate in Hoboken.