Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Recent Purchases for The American WingAuthor(s): Marshall DavidsonSource: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Vol. 35, No. 12 (Dec., 1940), pp. 259-260Published by: The Metropolitan Museum of ArtStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3256927 .
Accessed: 09/12/2014 06:02
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to TheMetropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Tue, 9 Dec 2014 06:02:54 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
BULLETIN OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART BULLETIN OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
have been just such sheets as those from the tomb of Wah, and Heka-nakht must have been just such a person as Wah him- self. They may even have known each other. The one was the Estate Manager of the great noble Meket-Rec; the other was in charge of the tomb endowment of the Wazir Ipy, who had died a very few years before. One was having linen woven in the fifth and sixth years of King Srankh-ka- Rec; the other was making business trips in the fifth and eighth years, and on the latter occasion writing home that he had just had some linen finished.
It only remained to find out what we could from the body of Wah himself, and in this we had the co-operation of Dr. Harry L. Shapiro of the American Museum of Natural History. Wah turned out to be a youngish man about thirty years old, who had undergone a primitive mummification. His brain was probably left in place, and the embalmers seem to have left his viscera intact above the diaphragm. Below that level they appear to have removed them, apparently through an incision in his lower abdomen. The more or less prolonged soak- ing had made Wah's flesh so soft that too tight a bandaging made a very narrow bundle of his body. H. E. WINLOCK.
RECENT PURCHASES FOR THE AMERICAN WING
A number of small objects, purchased since the beginning of the year for display in The American Wing, have been brought together in the Room of Recent Accessions this month. They are interesting acquisi- tions for a variety of reasons. The particu- lar rarity of marked colonial goldwork di- rects special attention to a pair of octagonal buttons.' Most of our early silversmiths must have had occasion to work in gold, for it is often as goldsmiths that they are men- tioned in contemporary records. Moreover, fine accessories to complement the rich stuffs of colonial costumes were in constant demand; and were vanity not sufficient, the lack of banking conveniences would have suggested the conversion of sovereigns,
1 Acc. no. 40. 53.1,2. Rogers Fund. Diam. 16 in.
have been just such sheets as those from the tomb of Wah, and Heka-nakht must have been just such a person as Wah him- self. They may even have known each other. The one was the Estate Manager of the great noble Meket-Rec; the other was in charge of the tomb endowment of the Wazir Ipy, who had died a very few years before. One was having linen woven in the fifth and sixth years of King Srankh-ka- Rec; the other was making business trips in the fifth and eighth years, and on the latter occasion writing home that he had just had some linen finished.
It only remained to find out what we could from the body of Wah himself, and in this we had the co-operation of Dr. Harry L. Shapiro of the American Museum of Natural History. Wah turned out to be a youngish man about thirty years old, who had undergone a primitive mummification. His brain was probably left in place, and the embalmers seem to have left his viscera intact above the diaphragm. Below that level they appear to have removed them, apparently through an incision in his lower abdomen. The more or less prolonged soak- ing had made Wah's flesh so soft that too tight a bandaging made a very narrow bundle of his body. H. E. WINLOCK.
RECENT PURCHASES FOR THE AMERICAN WING
A number of small objects, purchased since the beginning of the year for display in The American Wing, have been brought together in the Room of Recent Accessions this month. They are interesting acquisi- tions for a variety of reasons. The particu- lar rarity of marked colonial goldwork di- rects special attention to a pair of octagonal buttons.' Most of our early silversmiths must have had occasion to work in gold, for it is often as goldsmiths that they are men- tioned in contemporary records. Moreover, fine accessories to complement the rich stuffs of colonial costumes were in constant demand; and were vanity not sufficient, the lack of banking conveniences would have suggested the conversion of sovereigns,
1 Acc. no. 40. 53.1,2. Rogers Fund. Diam. 16 in.
doubloons, and other gold coins that circu- lated in the local markets into personal articles of various sorts. But very little of such work, particularly of marked examples, has survived. As it is almost negligibly represented in the Museum, the present purchase is a most welcome accession.
In size and design our buttons closely resemble a small number of others made by New England smiths of the eighteenth cen- tury. Like these, they undoubtedly were intended to serve as cuff links, although the loop connecting our pair is a restoration. The diminutive face of each button is con- ventionally engraved with a central rosette and an encircling design, while the reverse is twice stamped with the maker's name, "Clark," in a cartouche. The mark has been ascribed to Jonathan Clarke (I70o-about 1770), who worked largely in Providence and Newport.
Students especially will be interested in two other purchases for their marks, which have not hitherto been represented in the Museum. An attractive silver stock buckle, stamped o P in a rectangle, is probably by Otto Parisien, "the little old frenchman," who, according to Dunlap, made "mon- strous" miniatures as well as highly com- mendable silverware following his arrival in New York from Berlin in the 1750's.2 The other mark, B TE, the T and E conjoined, in a rectangle, identifies a spoon as one of the very few known pieces by Barent Ten Eyck (I714-I795) of Albany.3 Work by Barent's brother and father, Jacob and Koenraet Ten Eyck, is already shown in The Ameri- can Wing. On the reverse of the spoon's handle is engraved in contemporary Dutch script, in the manner of a funeral token, an abbreviated version of the legend "The Patroon Kiliaen Van Rensselaer. Born February 28, 1655. Died March 3, I687." The spoon may have been refashioned from an earlier piece, since it could hardly have been made less than a half century after the death recorded in the inscription. It is also of peculiar interest that the date here given for Van Rensselaer's birth, as far as has been determined, is not mentioned in any published genealogy.
2 Acc. no. 40.125. Rogers Fund. L. 2 in. 3 Acc. no. 40.34. Rogers Fund. L. 7 146 in.
doubloons, and other gold coins that circu- lated in the local markets into personal articles of various sorts. But very little of such work, particularly of marked examples, has survived. As it is almost negligibly represented in the Museum, the present purchase is a most welcome accession.
In size and design our buttons closely resemble a small number of others made by New England smiths of the eighteenth cen- tury. Like these, they undoubtedly were intended to serve as cuff links, although the loop connecting our pair is a restoration. The diminutive face of each button is con- ventionally engraved with a central rosette and an encircling design, while the reverse is twice stamped with the maker's name, "Clark," in a cartouche. The mark has been ascribed to Jonathan Clarke (I70o-about 1770), who worked largely in Providence and Newport.
Students especially will be interested in two other purchases for their marks, which have not hitherto been represented in the Museum. An attractive silver stock buckle, stamped o P in a rectangle, is probably by Otto Parisien, "the little old frenchman," who, according to Dunlap, made "mon- strous" miniatures as well as highly com- mendable silverware following his arrival in New York from Berlin in the 1750's.2 The other mark, B TE, the T and E conjoined, in a rectangle, identifies a spoon as one of the very few known pieces by Barent Ten Eyck (I714-I795) of Albany.3 Work by Barent's brother and father, Jacob and Koenraet Ten Eyck, is already shown in The Ameri- can Wing. On the reverse of the spoon's handle is engraved in contemporary Dutch script, in the manner of a funeral token, an abbreviated version of the legend "The Patroon Kiliaen Van Rensselaer. Born February 28, 1655. Died March 3, I687." The spoon may have been refashioned from an earlier piece, since it could hardly have been made less than a half century after the death recorded in the inscription. It is also of peculiar interest that the date here given for Van Rensselaer's birth, as far as has been determined, is not mentioned in any published genealogy.
2 Acc. no. 40.125. Rogers Fund. L. 2 in. 3 Acc. no. 40.34. Rogers Fund. L. 7 146 in.
259 259
This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Tue, 9 Dec 2014 06:02:54 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
BULLETIN OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART BULLETIN OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
The subject of the inscription was the third patroon of the Manor of Rensselaer- wyck and the first lord of the manor. His namesake, the third lord of the manor, was himself trained to silversmithing in his youth, serving at least part of his appren- ticeship under the eminent Boston merchant and craftsman Jeremiah Dummer (1645- 1718). In 1682 this Kiliaen's uncle, Ste- phanus Van Cortlandt, wrote, "It seems that Kiliaen is not used to living as plainly as they do here." But if the simplicity of New England domestic routine irked the future patroon, the silver he must have seen made at Dummer's, or may have helped to make for that matter, occasionally followed
The subject of the inscription was the third patroon of the Manor of Rensselaer- wyck and the first lord of the manor. His namesake, the third lord of the manor, was himself trained to silversmithing in his youth, serving at least part of his appren- ticeship under the eminent Boston merchant and craftsman Jeremiah Dummer (1645- 1718). In 1682 this Kiliaen's uncle, Ste- phanus Van Cortlandt, wrote, "It seems that Kiliaen is not used to living as plainly as they do here." But if the simplicity of New England domestic routine irked the future patroon, the silver he must have seen made at Dummer's, or may have helped to make for that matter, occasionally followed
somewhat more sumptuous patterns. Among our purchases an exceptionally interesting spoon by Dummer is the second example by this silversmith to be acquired by the Museum. It conforms to the exuberant styles of Restoration England more faith- fully than one might expect from a work- shop in nonconformist New England.4 With scroll and foliate designs in relief about the rattail of its broad bowl and the trifid end of its stem, it is one of a dis- tinguished small group of virtually identical pieces by Dummer dating from the last decades of the seventeenth century.
MARSHALL DAVIDSON. 4 Acc. no. 40. 105. Rogers Fund. L. 615/6 in.
somewhat more sumptuous patterns. Among our purchases an exceptionally interesting spoon by Dummer is the second example by this silversmith to be acquired by the Museum. It conforms to the exuberant styles of Restoration England more faith- fully than one might expect from a work- shop in nonconformist New England.4 With scroll and foliate designs in relief about the rattail of its broad bowl and the trifid end of its stem, it is one of a dis- tinguished small group of virtually identical pieces by Dummer dating from the last decades of the seventeenth century.
MARSHALL DAVIDSON. 4 Acc. no. 40. 105. Rogers Fund. L. 615/6 in.
NOTES NOTES MUSEUM SYMPHONY CONCERTS IN JANU-
ARY. The usual series of free symphony concerts under the directi6n of David Mannes will be given in the Museum on the four Saturday evenings in January, the fourth, eleventh, eighteenth, and twenty- fifth. They will begin at eight o'clock, and the Museum will be open continuously from ten o'clock in the morning until IO:45 p.m.
MEMBERSHIP. At a meeting of the Board of Trustees, held November 18, 1940, four ANNUAL MEMBERS were elected.
A BEQUEST AND GIFTS OF MONEY. The Museum gratefully acknowledges a bequest under the will of Alfred A. Kohn and gifts of money from Mrs. Arthur B. Emmons and Dr. and Mrs. Leo Mayer.
MUSEUM SYMPHONY CONCERTS IN JANU- ARY. The usual series of free symphony concerts under the directi6n of David Mannes will be given in the Museum on the four Saturday evenings in January, the fourth, eleventh, eighteenth, and twenty- fifth. They will begin at eight o'clock, and the Museum will be open continuously from ten o'clock in the morning until IO:45 p.m.
MEMBERSHIP. At a meeting of the Board of Trustees, held November 18, 1940, four ANNUAL MEMBERS were elected.
A BEQUEST AND GIFTS OF MONEY. The Museum gratefully acknowledges a bequest under the will of Alfred A. Kohn and gifts of money from Mrs. Arthur B. Emmons and Dr. and Mrs. Leo Mayer.
A CREDIT. In the November BULLETIN the two illustrations representing jewelry in the Museum's collection as worn by women and the details of an Egyptian and a Byzantine necklace were from photographs by Hans Van Nes; all other illustrations in the issue were from photographs by the Museum staff photographer, Edward Milla.
A CHANGE IN THE LECTURE PROGRAM. In the Lecture Program, issued in September, announcement was made that John Brooks Wheelwright would be the speaker on January 19 at four o'clock in the Special Sunday Lecture series. Shortly after came the news of Mr. Wheelwright's deeply re- gretted death. Walter Pach has kindly consented to speak instead, his subject be-
ing Portraiture, the Phoenix of the Arts.
A CREDIT. In the November BULLETIN the two illustrations representing jewelry in the Museum's collection as worn by women and the details of an Egyptian and a Byzantine necklace were from photographs by Hans Van Nes; all other illustrations in the issue were from photographs by the Museum staff photographer, Edward Milla.
A CHANGE IN THE LECTURE PROGRAM. In the Lecture Program, issued in September, announcement was made that John Brooks Wheelwright would be the speaker on January 19 at four o'clock in the Special Sunday Lecture series. Shortly after came the news of Mr. Wheelwright's deeply re- gretted death. Walter Pach has kindly consented to speak instead, his subject be-
ing Portraiture, the Phoenix of the Arts.
THE MATHEWS LECTURES ON GOTHIC
ARCHITECTURE. This course, offered to the
public by Columbia University and given in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, be- gins on January 15, 1940. The ten illustrated lectures will be given on Wednesdays at four o'clock by Clarence Ward, Professor of Fine Arts, Oberlin College. The titles of the first three lectures are: January 15, Early Mediaeval Backgrounds; January 22, The Rib Vault; January 29, The Flying But- tress.
THE MATHEWS LECTURES ON GOTHIC
ARCHITECTURE. This course, offered to the
public by Columbia University and given in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, be- gins on January 15, 1940. The ten illustrated lectures will be given on Wednesdays at four o'clock by Clarence Ward, Professor of Fine Arts, Oberlin College. The titles of the first three lectures are: January 15, Early Mediaeval Backgrounds; January 22, The Rib Vault; January 29, The Flying But- tress.
THE EXHIBITION OF NANTUCKET WATER
COLORS. In the exhibition of views of old Nantucket houses by Edgar W. Jenney, now on exhibition in The American Wing, the name of the original owner and the date of the house are given on the labels whenever possible. For much of this in- formation we are indebted to the kindness of Mrs. C. Warren Austin, G. Lister Car- lisle, and Everett U. Crosby, who placed at our disposal data which were otherwise unavailable.
THE EXHIBITION OF NANTUCKET WATER
COLORS. In the exhibition of views of old Nantucket houses by Edgar W. Jenney, now on exhibition in The American Wing, the name of the original owner and the date of the house are given on the labels whenever possible. For much of this in- formation we are indebted to the kindness of Mrs. C. Warren Austin, G. Lister Car- lisle, and Everett U. Crosby, who placed at our disposal data which were otherwise unavailable.
260 260
This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Tue, 9 Dec 2014 06:02:54 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
