American Silver Strainer

Object Details

Object Essay

Strainers appear with some frequency in the records and advertisements of early American silversmiths; they were developed as accessories to punch bowls. Their relatively low survival rate is due to their largely functional design; the piercing of the shallow bowl made strainers inherently weak. Some have survived with obvious repairs, but most damaged strainers were melted down for recycling.

Punch was one of the most fashionable 18th-century alcoholic beverages. Generally made from rum or brandy, sugar, lemon or lime juice, and the essence of the rind diluted with either hot or cold water, punch was prepared and served daily in some wealthy households. New Englanders were known for their restrained drinking, compared to the gentry of other American regions (New Yorkers being particularly noted for their emphasis on a gentleman’s ability to imbibe large amounts of alcohol). Nonetheless, the relatively large number of surviving punch strainers from New England demonstrates the popularity of alcoholic drinks. Most punch strainers date from the mid to late 18th century, thereby indicating when punch was favored by the merchant class. Early efforts to promote temperance, spearheaded by Dr. Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia, gradually drew the upper classes away from the distilled spirits essential to punch and toward milder, fermented liquors—particularly wine, port, madeira, and strong beer.^{1_{1. Belden 1983, 237–238; Rorabaugh, 25–57.}}

Strainers, which sifted the coarse sugar and prevented fruit pulp from entering the punch, were usually designed to be suspended from the lip of a punch bowl. New England examples were most frequently made with two long handles, whereas strainers from other American regions usually have only one short handle and were attached to the bowl rim with a vertical clip. At least seven other Boston silversmiths used this same handle pattern for their punch strainers, each developing his own manner of piercing the bowls. Examples by Burt are pierced with four groups of concentric circles, whereas examples by Paul Revere, for instance, are pierced with a daisy or star pattern.^{2_{See similar examples by Burt in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and at the Yale University Art Gallery. A third was published as part of the now-dispersed Moore Collection, formerly at Providence College (Buhler 1972, 1: 341; Buhler and Hood, 1: 169; Spokas et al., 113–14). Seven other silversmiths produced strainers with the same handle design as that seen here: Josiah Austin, William Gowen (Buhler and Hood, 1: 154, 213), Samuel Minott (Hammerslough, 3: 92), Alexander Crouckshanks, Joseph Loring (Buhler 1972, 1: 379, 2: 486), Daniel Parker (Flynt and Fales, 102), and Paul Revere, Jr. (Buhler and Hood, 1: 194, and Puig et al., 272–74).}}

Benjamin Burt, one of Boston’s most prolific silversmiths, was the son of John Burt (1693–1746), who also trained his brothers, Samuel (1724–1754) and William (1726–1752), in the craft. Benjamin’s first important commission, in 1759, was to produce two flagons for the First Church in Marblehead, Massachusetts, to match those made by his brother, Samuel; this suggests that Benjamin assumed responsibility for the family business after his brother’s death. In 1754 Benjamin married Joan Hooten, the daughter of an oar maker, and maintained a shop on Fish Street in the North End. In 1800, he was chosen to lead Boston’s goldsmiths in a memorial procession for George Washington, an honor that indicates the prominent position he held within the craft. Unlike Paul Revere, his chief competitor among Bostons silversmiths, Burt remained devoted to his craft throughout his life and did not invest significantly in other businesses.^{3_{Burt served in various town offices, including Collector of Taxes, and was a shareholder in the Charles River Bridge. In 1786, he produced a tankard for the bridge’s proprietors as a presentation piece for Richard Devens, one of the directors of the construction. Benjamin purchased tools from the estate of Zachariah Brigden in 1787 and bequeathed his own tools to Samuel Waters (working 1803–ca.1805). The silversmith Joseph Foster (1760–1839), who also operated a shop on Fish Street and was undoubtedly one of Burt’s apprentices, was named as sole executor of Burt’s substantial estate of $4,788.52 (Buhler 1972, 1: 283, 338, 348–49; 2: 173–74, 505).}} 

At some point, this strainer may have been taken to France, at which time it was stamped with a control mark.

Barbara McLean Ward and Jennifer F. Goldsboroug

Excerpted from Clement E. Conger, et al. Treasures of State: Fine and Decorative Arts in the Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the U.S. Department of State. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1991.