A Large American Silver Punch Bowl, Simeon Soumaine, New York, Circa 1725-45

Jonathan Trace, Portsmouth, NH, February 1, 2007

Jeanne Sloane, Artistry and Enterprise: American Silver 1660-1790 - Survey of American Colonial silver held in the collection of Roy J. Zuckerberg, New York, Smallwood & Stewart, 2018, no. 71, p. 150-151

Soumaine belonged to a group of successful Huguenot silversmiths active in New York City, including Charles Le Roux, Peter Quintard, George Ridout, Bartholomew Le Roux II, Thauvet Besly, and John Hastier.

This type of bowl was based on Chinese porcelain forms. While punch bowls of similar size are rare, there are a few known examples. A closely related bowl by his contemporary Thauvet Besly, also the son of Huguenot refugees, dating to the 1730's is illustrated in Margaret Hofer, Stories in Sterling: Four Centuries of Silver in New York,

2011, no. 5-13, p. 231. A few other New York examples are a bowl by Peter Vergereau circa 1743-55 in the collection of the MFA Boston (accession no. 1992.286) and one by Adrian Bancker circa 1750 from the Nutt Collection sold Sotheby's, New York, January 24, 2015, lot 647. A considerably smaller bowl by Soumaine, diameter 6 1/4 inches, was sold Christie's, New York, 17 January 2008, lot 161.