The acquisition of this sugar bowl made by Paul Revere II for John and Abigail (Collins) Warren reunites the work with a large coffeepot the smith made in 1791 for the same couple. Given in 1895, the coffeepot was the Museum's first acquisition of Revere-made silver. On June 24, 1785, Revere charged Dr. Warren 4.0.6 pounds sterling for the silver n this "sugar dish" which weighed 11 oz, 10 dwt and an additional 3.15.0 pounds sterling for making and engraving it. A teapot that Revere made in the same year for the couple remains on loan to the Museum from a private collection.
Dr. John Warren, a distinguished Boston physician was active in the Revolution as a surgeon general in the Continental Army and later was involved in many aspects of Massachusetts politics and cultural life. John and his older brother Joseph, a Boston physician who was killed at the battle of Bunker Hill, played an important role in medicine in Boston. In 1785 John and his family moved to a large house on property bordered by School, Tremont, and Washington streets, and he may have acquired this sugar bowl and other objects for use in his new home. He was a Mason and often patronized Revere, who engraved for him a certificate to award to attendees of his anatomy course at the American Hospital in Boston in 1780.
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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