Soup Ladle

Date1815-1840

Possibly by Simeon Stedman

OriginAmerica, Connecticut, Hartford or Massachusetts

MediumPewter; fruitwood

DimensionsOL: 15 ¼"; Diam (rim): 3 5/8"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1933-235

DescriptionLadle with curved fruitwood handle with shaped end fitting conical socket with incised bandings; socket attached to hemispherical bowl with narrow molding at edge; uninscribed as to owner
Label TextNew England artisans produced a considerable number of pewter ladles with wooden handles during the first half of the nineteenth century. This ladle is particularly reminiscent of those marked by Simeon Stedman of Hartford, Connecticut. It shares with Stedman's ladles a bent wooden handle with a turned urn-shaped finial fitting a long tapered socket. Stedman patented such ladles in 1818. A cabinetmaker by training and married to a member of the Boardman pewtering family, he may have fashioned handles for bowls that he acquired elsewhere. Stedman moved to Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1825, where he is believed to have lived until his death in 1842.
ProvenancePurchased from Mrs. Miles White, Baltimore, Maryland.