Yachting Trophy
Brooklyn Museum photograph
Object Label
William Merritt Chase based this subject on sketches he compiled in Venice, during his first, transformatlve European sojourn, frorn 1872 to 1878. The detalls—various art objects and antiques offered for sale—signal the antiquarian interests that Chase developed while abroad. The Antiquary Shop anticipates Chase's paintings of the lavishly decorated New York studio that he established on his return. Although the array of textiles, metalwork, ceramics, and paintings in this scene represent the kind of objects sought by late nineteenth-century collectors, the figures, dressed In the costume of the Napoleonic era, lend It a historical air.
Caption
George W. Shiebler & Co. 1876–1915; Willis Polk. Yachting Trophy, ca. 1904. Silver, 6 x 9 1/2 x 5 1/16 in. (15.3 x 24.1 x 12.8cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by the Charles and Mildred Schnurmacher Foundation, Inc., 1998.91. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1998.91.jpg)
Designer
Title
Yachting Trophy
Date
ca. 1904
Geography
Place made: Brooklyn, New York, United States
Medium
Silver
Classification
Dimensions
6 x 9 1/2 x 5 1/16 in. (15.3 x 24.1 x 12.8cm)
Markings
Impressed on bottom corner: "S [in winged circle] / STERLING"
Credit Line
Purchased with funds given by the Charles and Mildred Schnurmacher Foundation, Inc.
Accession Number
1998.91
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
Frequent Art Questions
Can you tell me more about this silver boat?
That is actually a yachting trophy! This trophy in the shape of a Spanish caravel (an early sailing ship) was presented by the Brooklyn Yacht Club to the winner of the 1904 regatta between New York and Marblehead, Massachusetts. It follows in a long tradition of silver yachting trophies.The trophy was made in the Brooklyn factory of George Shiebler & Company, and its design is based on a monument to Robert Louis Stevenson in San Francisco. Made just after the turn of the century, the trophy looks backward to the elaborate revival designs of the 1800s rather than forward to the modernist works that surround it on the shelf.Oh really? It was on a display with a bunch of service ware so I thought it was something else.Yes! The Lucce visible storage area is packed, but creates some nice comparisons between works!What is this?
That piece is actually a yachting trophy. In the shape of a Spanish caravel (an early sailing ship), it was presented by the Brooklyn Yacht Club to the winner of a regatta between New York and Marblehead, Massachusetts, in 1904. It was made around the turn of the 20th century in a Brooklyn-based factory: George Shiebler & Company.
Have information?
Have information about an artwork? Contact us at