This study day will focus on silver in New York in the late
seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, as an object signifying wealth,
cultivation, and mastery. Concentrating on works by silversmiths Benjamin
Wynkoop, Cornelius Kierstede, and Peter Van Dyck, curators Marybeth DeFilippis,
Beth Carver Wees, and Debra Schmidt Bach will consider aspects of stylistic
influence, marketing of silver, and workshop practices. A visit to the studio
of master silversmith Ubaldo Vitali in Maplewood, New Jersey, will provide an
examination of the technical knowledge and cultural influences surrounding the production
of silver through the centuries. Admission to the study day includes lunch and
round-trip transportation to the Ubaldo Vitale studio. Marybeth DeFilippis is
assistant curator of American art at the New-York Historical Society as well as
co-curator of the Dutch New York exhibition. Beth Carver Wees is curator in the
Department of American Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Debra
Schmidt Bach is assistant curator of decorative arts at the New-York Historical
Society and a PhD candidate at the BGC. Ubaldo Vitali is a fourth-generation
Roman silversmith, conservator, and art historian.