Joseph Richardson Sr. (September 28, 1711 - 1784) was an American

silversmith A silversmith is a metalworker who crafts objects from silver. The terms ''silversmith'' and ''goldsmith'' are not exact synonyms, as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are (or were, at least) largely the same but differed in that t ...

, active in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. He has been described as one of the greatest silversmiths of his time. Richardson was born in Philadelphia to silversmith Francis Richardson II (November 25, 1684 - August 17, 1729), and advertised in the ''

Pennsylvania Gazette ''The Pennsylvania Gazette'' was one of the United States' most prominent newspapers from 1728 until 1800. In the years leading up to the American Revolution, the newspaper served as a voice for colonial opposition to Kingdom of Great Britain, ...

'' from 1744-1784 as goldsmith. He was a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

and an active member of the " Friendly Association for Regaining and Preserving Peace with the Indians by Pacific Measures." As such, he crafted many silver items for Native Americans in addition to bowls, tea sets, and other tableware. He was twice married: first to Hannah Worrell on August 13, 1741, and then to Mary Allen on April 14, 1748, with whom he had two sons ( Joseph Richardson Jr. and Nathaniel Richardson), both of whom he raised as silversmiths. His work is collected in the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...

Winterthur Museum Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library is an American estate and museum in Winterthur, Delaware. Winterthur houses one of the richest collections of Americana in the United States. The museum and estate were the home of Henry Francis du Pont ...

, and

Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is an art museum in New Haven, Connecticut. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University. Although it embraces all cultures and period ...

References

* ''Joseph Richardson and family, Philadelphia silversmiths'', Martha Gandy Fales, Historical Society of Pennsylvania via Wesleyan University Press, 1974.
"Joseph Richardson"
American Silversmiths.
"The Richardsons: A Silver Family"
Lamb Silver. * ''American Silversmiths and Their Marks: The Definitive (1948) Edition'', Stephen G. C. Ensko, Courier Corporation, 2012, page 113. {{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson Sr., Joseph American silversmiths 1711 births 1784 deaths 18th-century American artisans