The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Tankard

1665

England, London, 17th century

(Charles II)
silver gilt
Diameter: 20.7 x 14.3 cm (8 1/8 x 5 5/8 in.)
Gift of Grace Studebaker Fish in memory of her father, John Mohler Studebaker 1936.352
Location: 203A British Painting and Decorative Arts

Did You Know?

Tankards, with their characteristic hinged covers, scroll handles, and lobed thumbpieces, were used to drink beer or ale.

Description

Silver fulfilled a prominent role in projecting wealth, status, power, and ritual in British life during the 1600s and 1700s. Elaborate forms such as two-handled cups, trophies, trays, and centerpieces not only represented wealth in their sheer silver weight but also provided royal and aristocratic owners a surface for displaying engraved coats of arms, projecting identity and social status. Less wealthy individuals made do with more functional items such as this tankard. The empty cartouches on the drinking vessel suggest that it was produced without a specific patron in mind and that a coat of arms was intended to be added at a later time.
  • ?–1936
    Grace Anna Studebaker Fish [1862–1946], New York, NY, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1936–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Foote, Helen. "An English Tankard." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 25, no. 4 (April 1938): 67 Mentioned: p. 67; Reproduced: p. 71 www.jstor.org
  • British Gallery Reinstallation (June 2020). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).
    Three Centuries of English Silver. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (organizer) (September 29-November 12, 1950).
  • {{cite web|title=Tankard|url=false|author=|year=1665|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1936.352