C2001-105: 1950-787 left; 1950-788 right.

Dish

Date1730-1750

Maker John Duncumb

OriginEngland, Worcestershire, Wribbenhall

MediumPewter

DimensionsDiam: 20 1/4"; W (rim): 2 9/16"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1950-787

DescriptionCircular dish; plain inclined rim of moderate width; short concave hammered booge to flat base with incised line on face of base near booge. Uniscribed as to owner.
Label TextJohn Duncumb (c. 1684-1745), after completing his apprenticeship with William Wood II of Birmingham, commenced a very large business in the early years of the eighteenth century, first in Birmingham and after 1720 in Wribbenhall and across the Severn in Bewdley. A surviving account book (1718-1724) gives an idea of the extent of the business. It shows that Duncumb produced no less than twenty tons of pewterware annually, the majority plates and dishes like this one. This is equivalent of about fifty thousand common dinner plates a year. Homer and Hall have estimated that Duncumb probably employed twenty workers or so.

InscribedNo
MarkingsTouch mark the arms of Duncumb (a chevron engrailed between three talbots' heads erased) within a shield with scrolled and foliate decoration framed by "IOHN DUNCUMB FREEMAN OF" within a vertical oval on underside of well (Cotterell 1465). Secondary marks (1) a rose with crown above with a palm frond to either side and crossing below within a vertical oval on underside of well to right of touch mark (Cotterell 1465) and (2) label "LONDON" in arched arrangement within a curved and outlined reserve with pendant scrolls at either end on underside of well below and between the touch mark and the principal secondary mark (Cotterell 1465).
ProvenanceVendor: Dr. Percy E. Raymond, Lexington, Massachusetts.