Silver Presentation Tureen for Rescuing Ship ASIA of Philadelphia, 1811
date: label: date made
content: ca 1811
notes: label: Description
content: In 1807, the ship ASIA of Philadelphia was sailing from its homeport to Canton, China bearing a valuable cargo of “specie and goods.” It ran into trouble at the Bocca Tigris strait by the mouth of the Pearl River, en route to Whampoa where the foreign ships trading with Canton anchored. Captain Philip Maughan of the East India Company’s brigantine ANTELOPE assisted in the rescue of the ASIA, which was insured for a very large amount by eleven different insurance companies. The Insurance Company of North America (INA) alone covered $35,000 of the ASIA’s coverage.
label: Description
content: In appreciation, the insurers voted in 1809 to purchase a set of fancy silver and present it to Captain Maughan for his role in the ASIA’s rescue, which they did in 1811. In 1942, an inscribed and ornately decorated silver soup tureen from the Maughan silver turned up at a London antique shop, where it was purchased by INA and returned to the firm’s Philadelphia headquarters for display among its company’s historic collections.
label: Description
content: In 2005, the CIGNA Corporation, successor to the INA, donated its historic collections, including this piece, to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
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content: Maritime Objects
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content: Domestic Furnishings
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of CIGNA Museum and Art Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2005.0279.138
label: catalog number
content: 2005.0279.138
label: accession number
content: 2005.0279
label: collector/donor number
content: Z142
objectType: label: Object Name
content: tureen
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: silver (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 13 in x 15 in x 12 in; 33.02 cm x 38.1 cm x 30.48 cm
label: Measurements
content: diameter without handles: 11 in; x 27.94 cm
label: Measurements
content: tureen: 7 3/4 in; 19.685 cm