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Myer Myers and the Silversmith's Trade in New York City, 1746-1795

出版	Yale University, 2001
ISBN	04931664169780493166414
URL	http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=t7WLtgAACAAJ&hl=&source=gbs_api

註釋Myer Myers (1723--1795) created outstanding works in silver and gold for leading members of the New York elites and was the most productive silversmith in the city during the third quarter of the eighteenth century. Many objects with his mark have long been regarded as among the most important American statements of the Rococo style, and he is perhaps best known as the maker of the only Jewish ritual silver to survive from Colonial America. These objects also provide an extraordinary amount of information about craft, patronage, and religious diversity in pre- and post-Revolutionary America. As a native American Jew, Myers was part of a small but close-knit community that provided him with patrons as well as mercantile contacts. His leadership role within the New York Jewish community mirrored and to some extent reinforced his prominence in his craft. Myers's career as a silversmith offers insights into the complexities of the often-romanticized and oversimplified subject of preindustrial craftsmanship in America. Surviving objects with his marks clearly were the product of a sizeable workshop that made both routine, less expensive forms as well as the unique, style-conscious wares for which Myers is renowned. While highlighting his outstanding works, this study also will situate them within his routine shop production, giving a more complete picture of his output. It will also highlight the interrelationships between different craftsmen in precious metals that traditionally have been interpreted as autonomous artists. Myers's finest works clearly demonstrate the importance of specialist craftsmen, such as engravers, chasers, and piercers. His routine productions apparently were marketed not only through his own establishment, but also through other silversmiths and jewelers who worked primarily as retailers. Myers's career also permits an examination of the evolving styles of London silver of fifty years as filtered through one colonial workshop.