.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
In keeping with the New England tradition of using domestic silver forms as communion vessels, Revere chose a design normally used for coffee ewers or claret jugs to serve as a wine flagon for the church. At 15½ inches high, it is one of the largest examples of silver by Paul Revere.
The September 4, 1796 Church Records reference this ewer (as a flagon) in the entry illustrated below.
The Pastor listed in the inscription was Reverend Joseph McKeen (1757-1807). He served the First Parish Church in Beverly from 1785 until 1802, when he left to become the first president of Bowdoin College in Maine.
Deacon Robert Roundy, also listed in the inscription, is mentioned by William Bentley, pastor of the East Church of Salem from 1783 to 1819, in his diaries, as a source of information regarding the "honourable" separation of a Church. Roundy's experience probably related to the formation of the Second Parish in Beverly, which Bentley considered graciously done, mentioning in this entry that the First Parish in Beverly offered the "communion service of plate till they could supply themselves." Finally, in the 1830s, the First Parish gave two silver tankards, both by Paul Revere and each with a presentation inscription, to the Second Church in Beverly and to the Christian Church in Beverly Farms.
(c) 2008 First Parish Church, UU, Beverly MA 01915 All Rights Reserved
Caption:
John Singleton Copley
Paul Revere, 1768
Gift of Joseph W. Revere, William B. Revere and Edward H. R. Revere 30.781
Photograph (c) [2009] Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The September 4, 1796 Church Records reference this ewer (as a flagon) in the entry illustrated below.
The Pastor listed in the inscription was Reverend Joseph McKeen (1757-1807). He served the First Parish Church in Beverly from 1785 until 1802, when he left to become the first president of Bowdoin College in Maine.
Deacon Robert Roundy, also listed in the inscription, is mentioned by William Bentley, pastor of the East Church of Salem from 1783 to 1819, in his diaries, as a source of information regarding the "honourable" separation of a Church. Roundy's experience probably related to the formation of the Second Parish in Beverly, which Bentley considered graciously done, mentioning in this entry that the First Parish in Beverly offered the "communion service of plate till they could supply themselves." Finally, in the 1830s, the First Parish gave two silver tankards, both by Paul Revere and each with a presentation inscription, to the Second Church in Beverly and to the Christian Church in Beverly Farms.
(c) 2008 First Parish Church, UU, Beverly MA 01915 All Rights Reserved
Caption:
John Singleton Copley
Paul Revere, 1768
Gift of Joseph W. Revere, William B. Revere and Edward H. R. Revere 30.781
Photograph (c) [2009] Museum of Fine Arts, Boston