A “cup with two twisted Ears chas’d with Skutchens” by Jacob Boelen that was stolen in 1733 was probably two handled, a form popular in New York at the turn of the eighteenth century. Originally a Renaissance form adopted in northern Europe, these vessels are sometimes called “brandywine cups” to recall those filled with brandy and raisins on feast days in the Netherlands. Eighteen cups of this type by such New York makers of Huguenot and Dutch descent as Bartholomew Le Roux, Benjamin Wynkoop, and Jesse Kip were recorded by John Pearce in 1961; Pearce ascribed three bowls to Boelen. Today scholars have identified at least seven surviving cups, in varying forms, by this New York silversmith.
Boelen made shallow vessels with an undecorated body and flat or twisted wire handles. The majority of his cups, however, were ornamented with six chased and repousséd panels or sections, some defined with an undulating, chased line and others with simple vertical divisions. The latter group was usually enlivened with a stylized leaf or flower design.
The Museum’s bowl is one of at least three known examples in the flowered style by Boelen. The richly chased and repousséd flowers are reminiscent of those found in northern European engravings and silver, as is to be expected of New York silversmiths with strong links to the Netherlands. Jacob and his son, Henricus Boelen, also made slender beakers with interlaced patterns and foliate designs based upon Dutch examples in their churches.
Just as Henricus Boelen, with his father, produced Dutch-influenced spoons and church beakers, so too did he fashion a two-handled bowl with flowers that is similar to the Museum’s example. That bowl’s slender, cast handles and applied foot differ from those on this, his father’s, bowl; however, the five-petal design with a central, trumpetlike center are closely related. Still more remarkable is the similarity in punchwork that enlivens the outline of each flower. The two men also shared similar design solutions, as seen in the faint volutes adorning the base of each lobe, a vestige of paneled and anthemion-decorated vessels. Together, these features demonstrate beautifully the transmission of skills and style from father to son.

This text has been adapted from "Silver of the Americas, 1600-2000," edited by Jeannine Falino and Gerald W.R. Ward, published in 2008 by the MFA. Complete references can be found in that publication.

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