overall: 1 7/8 in x 7 7/8 in x 5 in; 4.7625 cm x 20.0025 cm x 12.7 cm
Object Name:
porringer
Place made:
United States: Massachusetts, Newburyport
United States: Massachusetts, Boston
Date made:
ca 1800
Description:
Bowl-shaped porringer with bulging sides, angled rim, and boss bottom with flat gutter; cast handle is pierced in a keyhole pattern with 11 voids and engraved on front "NPR / to / NRP" in conjoined foliate script letters facing out. Struck once on back of handle "MOULTON" in incuse serif letters with traces of surround. Centerpoint on bottom inside and underside. No weight engraved.
Maker is either Joseph Moulton III (1744-1816) of Newburyport, MA, or his son, Ebenezer Noyes Moulton (1768-1824), working in Boston, MA, circa 1789-1820, and Newburyport, circa 1820-1824; without a first initial on the "MOULTON" stamp, uncertainty exists as to whether one or both used it. Father and son are part of large family of Newburyport silversmiths than spanned several generations, including Joseph III's father William Moulton III (1720-circa 1793) and uncle Joseph Moulton II (1724-1795), as well as Joseph III's four sons, Ebenezer, William IV (1772-1861), Enoch (1780-1820), and Abel (1784-1840), and one grandson, Joseph IV (1814-1903).