Art Institute of Chicago

Wine Cup

John Hull (American, born England, 1627–1683)

Date

c. 1660

Medium

Silver

Culture

Boston

Department

Arts of the Americas

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

This wine cup is among the earliest and rarest examples of colonial American silver, made in the Massachusetts Bay Colony around 1660 by John Hull and Robert Sanderson. Born in England and raised in Boston, Hull was appointed mintmaster for the Colony in 1652, partnering then with Sanderson. The cup’s restrained style and lack of ornamentation express the Puritan values of early settlers. Commissioned by William Needham, later sexton of Old South Church in Boston, the vessel was used domestically—a decidedly uncommon possession even for an established family of the time. An inscription was added to the cup when Needham donated it to Braintree Church in 1688.

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