Whistle and Bells with Coral

c. 1722

Thomas Edwards
American, 1701–1755
Boston

This small toy was most likely given to its owner as a christening present. Coral was thought to have excellent protective powers against illness, and the coral stick was a perfect remedy for a teething child. In period portraits depicting children, a whistle and bells sometimes hang from a chain around the child’s waist. This toy may have been made for Jonathan Fayerweather, who was born in Boston in 1722.

Status: On View, Gallery 167
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Thomas Edwards
Title: Whistle and Bells with Coral
Place: Boston (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: c. 1722
Medium: Silver and coral
Inscriptions: Engraved on mount under whistle: IF Engraved on mount under whistle: Fayerweather crest of a beaver with a fish in its mouth Maker's mark on mount near juncture with coral, in rectangle: TE
Dimensions: 1.9 × 11.4 × 11.4 cm (3/4 × 4 1/2 × 4 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Antiquarian Society through Mrs. J. Odgen Armour
Reference Number: 1943.1064
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/48898/manifest.json

The Antiquarian Society (Art Institute of Chicago, 1951), no. 56 (ill.).
M.G. Fales, Early American Silver for the Cautious Collector, (New York, 1970), no. 102 (ill.).
Michael Clayton, “The Collector’s Dictionary of the Silver and Gold of Great Britain and North America,” (World Publishing Company, 1971) no. 424.
Martha Gandy Fales, “Early American Silver,” (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1973) no. 102 (ill.).
Anita Gold, “Rattles once a Plaything of Cutthroats and Kings,” Chicago Tribune, July 21, 1974, p. 8.
Abby Hansen “Coral in Children’s Portraits: A Charm Against the Evil Eye” Antiques 120 (1981) 1424–1431.
Patricia E. Kane et al., Colonial Massachusetts Silversmiths and Jewelers (New Haven: Yale University Art Gallery, 1998) p. 465.
Judith A. Barter, Elizabeth McGoey, et al., American Silver in the Art Institute of Chicago (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016), cat. 13 (ill.).
Elizabeth McGoey, ed., American Silver in the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2018), https://publications.artic.edu/americansilver/reader/collection/section/6, cat. 13 (ill.).

Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Paul Revere’s Boston: 1735–1818, Apr. 18–Oct. 12, 1975, cat. 109.
Art Institute, The Antiquarian Society of the Art Institute of Chicago, the First One Hundred Years, Apr. 23–June 19, 1977, cat. 174 (ill.).

Jonathan Fayerweather (1722–1755), Boston. With George C. Gebelein, Boston, by 1943; sold to Mrs. J. Ogden Armour, Chicago, 1943; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1943.

Cat. 13 Whistle and Bells with Coral, c. 1722–23

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

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