Horse racing trophy finds home in Colonial Williamsburg collection
An early example of Virginia silversmithing is now part of Colonial Williamsburg’s silver collection, its foundation announced this week.
In the early 19th century, the Madison Horse Racing Trophy was made and marked by Johnson & Reat of Richmond to commemorate a win by a horse named Madison. The horse, likely named in honor of President James Madison, was owned by Revolutionary War veteran Burwell Bassett Wilkes of Brunswick County.
The horse placed first in a race held at the New-Market racecourse in Petersburg, earning Wilkes a $400 cash prize. In honor of the victory, Wilkes converted his stakes into the trophy, which passed down through five generations of the Wilkes family.
In an announcement by Colonial Williamsburg, Erik Goldstein, senior curator of mechanical arts, metals and numismatics, called the trophy “colossal, a work of silversmithing genius, and jaw-dropping to see.”
“It will instantly grab and hold your attention,” he said. “Nothing like it exists in the world of early 19th-century, Virginia-made silver, and it is unique in the collections of Colonial Williamsburg for many reasons.”
The trophy is more than a foot tall and is “similar in form to a cream pot but on a majestic scale,” according to Colonial Williamsburg. It contains a number of decorations, including a grapevine motif, an engraved inscription and an engraved racecourse scene with two galloping horses and their jockeys running neck and neck — with Madison in the lead.
Among the markings on the trophy are variations of the initials of Wilkes’ daughter, Mary “Polly” Wilkes, scratched into the underside of the foot.
“Following more than two hundred years of careful preservation in the family of its original owner, Colonial Williamsburg is honored to become the permanent steward of this important and monumental example of early Virginia silversmithing,” said Ronald L. Hurst, the foundation’s senior vice president for education and historic resources, in a news release.
The trophy was acquired through The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund, The Joseph H. and June S. Hennage Fund, Mark S. Farnsworth and a partial gift of the Family of Randolph Madison Jr. It is currently on view at the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum.
Sian Wilkerson, sian.wilkerson@pilotonline.com, 757-342-6616
