Rebecca Emes and Edward Barnard I
English, working in partnership 1808–1829
Tankard
1811/12
Used for beer and ale, tankards were often plain or inscribed with the owner’s coat of arms. This tankard’s unique decoration, which includes engraved stars, planets, and a comet, suggests it was made for a client with an interest in astronomy. The comet almost certainly refers to the Great Comet of 1811, visible for several months even during daylight hours and widely regarded with awe and trepidation.
| Medium | silver |
| Dimensions | 5 7/8 x 5 3/8 x 3 9/16 in. (14.9 x 13.7 x 9 cm) Lip diameter: 3 5/16 in. (8.4 cm) Troy weight: 13.75 toz (427.7 g) |
| Object Number | 1955.114 |
| Acquisition | Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955 |
| Status | On View |
Image Caption
Rebecca Emes and Edward Barnard I, Tankard, 1811/12, silver. Clark Art Institute, 1955.114
Select Bibliography
Robert Sterling Clark Art Institute. Robert Sterling Clark Art Institute Presents an Exhibition of Silver of the 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Robert Sterling Clark Art Institute, 1952.
Clair, Jean, ed. Cosmos: From Romanticism to the Avant-Garde. Exhibition catalogue. Montreal: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; Munich: Prestel, 1999.
Wees, Beth Carver. "English Silver in an American Museum: The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute." Silver Society Journal 4 (Autumn 1993):115–23.
Wees, Beth Carver. English, Irish, and Scottish Silver at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1997.
Olson, Roberta J. M., and Jay M. Pasachoff. Fire in the Sky: Comets and Meteors: The Decisive Centuries, in British Art and Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,1998.
Wees, Beth Carver. "Silver in the Clark Art Institute." The Magazine Antiques 62, no. 4 (October 1997): 536–45.
