1904.157
Mug
Artists
Gorham Manufacturing Company (Gorham Co.)
[
design attributed to
Harriet Sarah Walker];
Title
Mug
Creation Date
1879
Century
19th century
Dimensions
3 7/16 in. x 2 7/8 in. (8.73 cm. x 7.3 cm.)
Object Type
silver
Creation Place
North America, United States, Rhode Island
Medium and Support
silver with gilt highlights
Credit Line
Gift of the Misses Harriet and Sophia Walker
Copyright
Public Domain
Accession Number
1904.157
The Gorham Manufacturing Company of Providence, Rhode Island, was one of America’s pre–eminent producers of fine silver tablewares. This small mug, with ferns and butterflies, is executed in the Japanese taste, an example of the Aesthetic Movement in America. It is engraved with the Arms of the Mystic Owls, a private club in Atlanta, Georgia, that is believed to be associated with merchants in the cotton trade, which was re-established following the Civil War. Through her uncle Theophilus Wheeler Walker’s cotton manufacturing interests, Harriet Walker is believed to have been a member of this society and may have designed the heraldic device depicted here. After she and her sister Mary Sophia Walker became their uncle’s heirs, they commissioned in his memory the Walker Art Building, in which this gallery is located.