American Silver Spice Caster

Object Details

Object Essay

Early American foods, given the problems of preparation and preservation, were so bland that condiments were needed to make them tasty or were so smoked or spiced that mild sauces were needed to make them edible. As a result, casters—used to hold black or red pepper, dry mustard, and sometimes sugar—became popular accoutrements to 18th-century dining tables. The earliest examples of the American form were cylindrical boxes; the form later developed into a tall baluster or vase shape. By the 1770s, silver casters such as the one illustrated here were being replaced by cut-glass cruets held in neoclassical stands of silver or Sheffield fused plate.

The details of this caster—the pear form on a very small pedestal, the rib-like indentations on the lower body, the repoussé leaf swag at the neck, and the vertical linear decorations of the pierced top—are more reminiscent of French 18th-century silver than of English or American prototypes. In the period following the American Revolution, French styles enjoyed a new popularity in America. Philadelphians, in particular, were notable for emulating French taste.^{1_{Garvan 1987, 54–65.}} Although Dupuy, his master, and his master’s master, were all of Huguenot origin, they were trained in America and did not have direct knowledge of French styles or working methods. Like his fellow Philadelphians, Dupuy probably learned of French styles through imported objects.

Daniel Dupuy was born in New York in 1719 and learned his craft from his brother-in-law, Peter David (1707–1755). He apparently accompanied his master when he moved to Philadelphia about 1736. Dupuy completed his apprenticeship in 1740 and married Eleanor Dylander, widow of the rector of Old Swedes’ Church, in 1746. Two of Dupuy’s sons, John (1747–1838) and Daniel, Jr. (1753–1826), and Dupuy’s nephew, John David (1736–1793), worked in partnership with him at various times between 1784 and 1805.^{2_{Philadelphia: Three Centuries, 44–45, 161.}}

Jennifer F. Goldsborough and Barbara McLean Ward

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.