Served In Style”: 300 Years Of Maryland Silver

Baltimore, Md.

:Status, prosperity and delicious indulgences. That is the top-line social history behind the exhibit of 250 pieces of Maryland silver now on permanent display at the Maryland Historical Society. But the deeper story of the hollowwares produced in Maryland, their evolution and impact on American silver styles across the nation, reflects the true importance of this landmark exhibition.

In describing the exhibit, "Served in Style: Silver Collection of the Maryland Historical Society," Jeannine Disviscour, who created and curates the show, called it "dazzling" — and she was not just mining a cliché. The silver is displayed in a gallery bathed in sunlight. Given the setting, every chased detail, repoussé decoration and decorative banding can be seen, studied and admired.

Disviscour said, "[The exhibit] is an opportunity to talk about bigger issues, such as what the founders valued. They were new people in a new land with new ideas. They made new products, inspired by the English makers, but all the while building our own styles and history."

The Eighteenth Century silver in Maryland homes was not unlike that found elsewhere in the colonies. That is to say, it was English. Among the many exquisite London pieces on display with Maryland provenance are a 1741 salver by Robert Abercromby (active 1731–1750) and a remarkably modernist-looking pap boat — a small container without feet that curves into a short lip at one end — made by George Hunter (active 1748–circa 1762). A chocolate pot attributed to Thomas Tearle of London and fashioned with a fruitwood handle from "Readbourne," the Maryland mansion built in the 1730s, represents the status associated with drinking expensive, imported chocolate. The removable finial provides an opening for a stirring rod.

Disviscour commented that while she and an assistant were polishing the silver, readying it for exhibition, she filled the vessels with water "to see if they would pour." The chocolate pot, she said, "had the widest arc of all. Filled with chocolate, which is heavier than water, it probably flared out even more. The effect must have been impressive."

And impressions were what silver is all about. Whether given as dowry, presentation pieces, christening items or trophies, silver makes a statement akin only to gold.