Communion Flagon
date: label: Date made
content: 1748 - 1757
label: engraved date
content: 1757
notes: label: Description
content: The observance of communion or the symbolic partaking of bread and wine in commemoration of the last supper of Jesus Christ occupied a central role in the colonial American church. Breaking off from the Catholic notion of Eucharist as a miracle officiated by priests, Puritan leaders such as John Winthrop believed Communion essential to the functioning of the "Godly Community" settled in America. This pewter flagon once held the wine served to parishioners as part of communion. Pewter crafts in colonial America were expensive and churches often relied on the goodwill of wealthier members of the congregation for support. This container was part of a set donated, as its inscription reads, as a "Gift of Mr. George Farrar to the Church of Christ in Lincoln [Massachusetts] 1757."
label: Location
content: Currently not on view (Flagon B)
place: label: place made
content: United Kingdom: England, London
label: place used
content: United States: Massachusetts, Lincoln
topic: label: Subject
content: Church
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
label: See more items in
content: Religion
label: See more items in
content: Artifact Walls exhibit
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Arthur M. Greenwood
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: DL.388365
label: catalog number
content: 388365
label: accession number
content: 182022
objectType: label: Object Name
content: flagons (2)
label: Object Name
content: flagon, communion
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: pewter (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 33.383 cm; 13 1/8 in
label: Measurements
content: top: 4 3/8 in; 11.1125 cm
label: Measurements
content: base: 6 1/2 in; x 16.51 cm