William Cowell Sr. (January 25, 1682 – 1736) was a

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

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

in the Thirteen Colonies. Cowell was born in Boston, and may have apprenticed with John Allen (1671/72 – 1760), John Edwards (about 1671 – 1746), or

Jeremiah Dummer Jeremiah Dummer (1681 – May 19, 1739) was a Massachusetts-born politician and writer who was an important figure in the New England Colonies during the early 18th century. His most significant contributions to American history were his ''A De ...

. By 1704 his apprenticeship was complete, and on May 13, 1706, he married Elizabeth Kilby.

Samuel Sewall Samuel Sewall (; March 28, 1652 – January 1, 1730) was a judge, businessman, and printer in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, best known for his involvement in the Salem witch trials, for which he later apologized, and his essay ''The Selling ...

's diary records that in 1707 Cowell's shop was burgled "and a considerable quantity of Plate stolen," although the stolen silver was returned after the thief was apprehended. Seward later records, in 1715, that he hired a horse from Cowell, which is consistent with the profession of "innkeeper" recorded at Cowell's death. He is believed to have retired about 1734 when his son, William Cowell Jr., finished his apprenticeship. Cowell's work is collected in the

Museum of Fine Arts Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 work ...

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 ...

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 ...

, 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 ...

Notes

"Tankard by William Cowell Sr."

. * ''Early American Silver in The Metropolitan Museum of Art'', Beth Carver Wees, Medill Higgins Harvey,

, 2013, page 133. * ''American Silver in the Art Institute of Chicago'',

, Yale University Press, 2016, page 64.
"William Cowell"
American Silversmiths. Silversmiths from the Thirteen Colonies 18th-century American artisans People from colonial Boston 1682 births 1736 deaths {{US-artist-stub