Eagle Pitcher with Carved Rosewood Handle

The "Eagle" pitcher is among the most recognizable forms in the Spratling repertoire, its carved rosewood handle resolving into a stylized eagle and a ring of silver balls gathered at the handle's base. The eagle motif draws on the pre-Columbian and national imagery Spratling translated into accessible modern form, a practice Stromberg describes as central to his design method (p. 27).

That this pitcher reached a wide American audience is documented: it was offered through the Montgomery Ward catalogue for $65.00 in 1943, during the 1943-46 years when Spratling silver was carried by the retailer (Morrill, p. 257). The handle's carved wood against raised silver follows the material contrast Morrill compares to Puiforcat's combining of rosewood and metal (p. 224).

The design has since been reissued, the form remaining in production after the original workshop years.

It is recorded across the major references, including Cederwall and Riney's Spratling Silver and Morrill and Berk's Mexican Silver. Among Spratling holloware, the Eagle pitcher is a defining design.