Images(9)

Cann

Dateca. 1765

Maker Thomas You (ca. 1730 - 1786)

OriginAmerica, South Carolina, Charleston

MediumSilver

DimensionsOverall: 4 1/4 × 5 × 3 5/16in. (10.8 × 12.7 × 8.4cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund

Object number2021-16

DescriptionSilver cann: Cast, stepped circular foot supports pear-shaped body with plain rim and double-scrolled handle with acanthus furl at top and split-scrolled lower terminal.
Label TextThomas You worked at the Sign of the Golden Cup in Charleston, South Carolina, from about 1756 until the late 1780s. He regularly announced in The South-Carolina Gazette that he imported, made, repaired, and polished silver and jewelry. Southern silver fashioned prior to the mid-19th century is rare, and pre-Revolutionary pieces are even more uncommon. Although Thomas You was a prominent craftsman in Charleston for three decades, today only about three dozen objects bearing his mark are known. This circa 1765 cann joins a caster and cream pot as examples of silver at Colonial Williamsburg by this important Southern craftsman.
MarkingsMarked twice in relief on base "T·Y" in an oval.
ProvenanceWiederseim Associates, Inc., Chester Springs, PA
S.J. Shrubsole, New York, New York