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Tray

Decorative Arts and Design

MEDIUM Silverplate
DATES ca. 1905
DIMENSIONS 1 7/8 x 17 1/8 x 11 1/2 in. (4.8 x 43.5 x 29.2 cm)  (show scale)
MARKINGS Stamped on underside of tray along side: "MED. & PLATED / BY / REED & BARTON / TAUNTON, MASS / No 225"
INSCRIPTIONS Engraved in script on top of tray, above main scene of Jack and Jill, in script: "John H. Livingston"
ACCESSION NUMBER 1996.37.7
CREDIT LINE Gift of Mrs. John H. Livingston
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Kidney-shaped silver-plate tray with nursery rhyme decorations. Tray raised on two ball feet on underside and flat vertical strip across front edge; tray bottom slants down slightly from front; everted rim around curved edges decorated with repousse leaf and scroll pattern. Bottom of tray etched with pictures and verses from nursery rhymes. In center, scene of two children at foot of hill with spilled pail and verse "Jack & Jill / Went up the hill / to fetch a pail of / water/ Jack fell down / and broke his / crown / And Jill / came / tumbling / after." Smaller vignettes surround main image, clockwise from left: little boy seen from 3/4 rear view, seated in corner with verse "Little Jack Horner / sat in a corner / Eating his Christmas pie"; horse with saddle; crying shepherdess with verse "Little / Bo-Peep / has lost / her sheep / and cant / tell where / to find/ them / Leave them / along, and they'll / come home, / wagging their / tails behind them"; two kittens playing (in center at top of tray); tall grandfather clock with mice and verse "Hickory dickory / dock / The mouse ran up / the clock / The clock struck / one / The mouse ran / down / Dickory / dock."; Humpty Dumpty seated on wall playing banjo; old woman at open cupboard with begging dog at her feet with verse (partially worn) "Old Mother / Hubbard she / went to the cupboard [to fetch her poor doggy a bone … ]." Condition: Good; mild overall tarnish and scratching; some denting around tray, especially above ball feet.
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Reed & Barton (American, 1840-present). Tray, ca. 1905. Silverplate, 1 7/8 x 17 1/8 x 11 1/2 in. (4.8 x 43.5 x 29.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mrs. John H. Livingston, 1996.37.7. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1996.37.7.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 1996.37.7.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2004
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RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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