Brandywine bowl (brandewijnkom)

The brandywine bowl, a decorative vessel favored by elite families of Dutch descent, embodies the perpetuation of Dutch tradition in New York. Brandywine bowls are traditionally associated with the Dutch ritual of the kindermaal, a celebratory feast held in honor of a mother and her newborn child. This bowl is engraved with three sets of initials, which trace the bowl's ownership through six generations of the De Peyster family. The earliest set indicates that the bowl was made to celebrate the birth of one of the children of New York City merchant Cornelis De Peyster and his wife, Maria Bancker, who married in 1694.