Author Description

"The first publication of the museum's full collection of American silver, which ranks with the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the MFA Boston and ranges from colonial-era tableware to ecclesiastical and presentation silver, to jewelry by renowned contemporary artists. This publication will provide a look at the evolution of designs in silver as well as the early history of Philadelphia--a center of silver production from its earliest days--as seen through the intersecting lives of its artisans and patrons. The catalogue section includes extensive biographies of makers and retailers, based on decades of archival research, along with detailed object entries, including deeply researched information on the original owners and the donors. The photography captures not only full views of the objects but also details, marks, and heraldic engraving. The first of four volumes, the 2018 publication will cover makers and retailers whose names begin with the letters A to F. The Museum's complete American silver collection has not previously been published. The catalogue will combine generous illustrations similar to those in the MFA Boston's Silver of the Americas, 1600-2000 (2008), with the biographical detail of Patricia Kane's Colonial Massachusetts Silversmiths and Jewelers (Yale, 1998)"--