Caudle Cup
Artist/Culture
Benjamin Sanderson
American, 1649–1678
Artist/Culture
Boston
Massachusetts
Dateabout 1660
Mediumsilver
Dimensions11.8 x 7 x 5.8 cm (4 5/8 x 2 3/4 x 2 5/16 in.)
ClassificationsMetalwork
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1948.2
DescriptionGourd shaped body, upper part plain, lower part decoratd with stylized floral ornaments in six comapartments on a matted ground with a row of dots above and another below; twisted wire scrolled handles. Double maker's mark on bottom: B S crude capitals in a cartouche. Benjamin Sanderson, son of Robert Sanderson, Boston.Label TextFrom the colonial era through 1900, Americans avidly acquired silver items to display their wealth. This precious metal had profound social and ecological repercussions across the Atlantic world. The majority of silver used throughout this period originated in Spanish-controlled mines in Latin America. Potosi in present-day Bolivia was the major source through the mid-1700s, when its mines were exhausted and Mexico became a leading supplier. Mining relied on forced labor, subjecting both Indigenous and African populations to horrific working conditions. It also depleted natural resources and devastated the local environment with pollution. One 1759 writer described the cloud hanging over Potosi as:"...vapors and poisonous fumes...from dead animals, from trash heaps, and other fine dust from the ore and from the mercury smoke in the burning and reburning of the [silver]."ProvenanceMrs. Arthur A. Brigham, Worcester, MA
On View
On viewCurrent Location
- Exhibition Location Gallery 3002
