Coffeepot

Date1734-1735

Artist/Maker Peter Archambo I (fl. 1721 - 1759)

MediumSilver (Sterling)

DimensionsOH: 8 7/8"; D(cover): 2 15/16"; D(rim): 2 5/8"; D(base) 4 7/16"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1955-260

DescriptionCoffeepot: lighthouse type; peaked ball finial with mid-band in circular well on flat top of domed cover with short convex sides contracted above half-round molding at edge; cover flat-chased with scrolled and diapered decoration; cover hinged to upper handle socket; tall tapered straight-sided cylindrical body with applied multiple moldings at rim and base; flat-chased scrolled and diapered borders at rim and base; curved cast spout octagonally paneled with alternate panels flat-chased; double-scroll ebonized fruitwood handle fitting cylindrical upper socket with molded edge and drop and scrolled lower socket ending in a bud terminal. Crest of a deer's head erased with leafed branch in mouth on opposed sides of body.
Label TextThe general drinking of coffee began in 1652 with the opening of the Pasqua Rosee, the first of many London coffeehouses. The earliest English silver coffeepot, however, is that of 1681/82, probably by George Garthorne of London, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. It resembles the earliest silver teapot of eleven years earlier (see CWF accession 1954-535), as well as other early coffeepots. These include examples of 1689/90, ascribed to Francis Garthorne of London, in the royal collections; of 1690/91, probably by George Garthorne of London, in the Assheton Bennett collection in the City of Manchester Art Gallery; of 1692/93 with later rococo chasing; of 1700/1701 by Andrew Raven of London in the Farrer collection in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; of 1700/1701 by Andrew Raven, formerly part of the Sneyd family silver; and of 1701/2 by William Gibson of London. These all have a tall circular body with tapered straight sides and a tall conical cover with a finial. Except for the earliest one of 1681/82, the handles are placed at right angles to (rather than opposite) the spout. Beginning with that of 1690/91, all have thumbpieces and, except for that of 1700/1701 in the Ashmolean Museum, spouts of early curved (rather than straight) form with a hinged flap at the pouring end. A mature example of this form of wrought spout can be seen in the chocolate pot of 1708/9 (CWF accession 1954-577).

This coffeepot and accessions 1956-295 and 1954-520 evidence the persistence of the tapered straight-sided body, even though coffeepots of baluster and other curved forms had been made intermittently from the close of the seventeenth century. Cast curved spouts had replaced wrought ones by about 1710, by which time, also, the thumbpiece had been discarded. Tall domed covers, first appearing in the late seventeenth century, tend to diminish in height after about 1725, with the covers of many coffeepots of the 1730s and 1740s, as in this example, having a flattened top and short contracted sides. This handsome pot is chased and engraved with unusually broad borders of foliated scrolls, shells, faces, and diapering.

A plain coffeepot of similar form of 1732/33 by Joseph Smith of London with a tradition of ownership in the family of Edward Jacquelin (1668-1739) of Jamestown, Virginia, was exhibited in 1940 at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond.
InscribedOwner's crest engraved opposite side of body.
MarkingsMaker's mark "PA" in block letters with crown above within a shaped and conforming reserve, leopard's head crowned, lion passant, and date letter on underside of base. Lion passant on interior of cover.
ProvenanceGarrard & Co. Ltd., London.

Exhibition(s)