Single Reed Plate
Dateca. 1760-1793
Maker
William Kirby
MediumPewter
DimensionsDiameter: 8 15/16"; Height: 3/4"
Credit LineGift of Scott and Debra Duncan
Object number2022-252
DescriptionCircular pewter plate with a flat smooth rim, reinforced from the bottom, and a hammered booged well surrounded by an incised circle.Label TextA highly skilled pewterer, Kirby's surviving products are considered to be of excellent quality. This weighty plate rivals British examples, illustrating that point well. After training under his father Peter Kirby, William was out on his own by 1760, when he married Catherine, daughter of Nicholas Roosevelt, a prominent New Yorker. At various times Kirby own numerous properties in the City, and was making pewter for sale in his Great Dock Street shop after the Revolution. By the mid-1790s he switched gears and became a merchant, selling China and glassware.Mark(s)Long-legged bird, standing to left with a worm in its beak, sun above to the right, a banner inscribed WH:KIRBY above and another inscribed NEW•YORK below, all in relief (Laughlin-500). Also Kirby's four pseudo hallmarks (Laughlin 501).ProvenanceEx. coll.: William Kayhoe (Richmond, VA ), past president of the Pewter Collector's Club of America.
