Images(5)

Anniversary Teapot

Date1866

OriginAmerica

MediumTinned sheet iron, painted cast pewter handle, and lead solder

DimensionsOverall: 9 x 10 1/8 x 4 1/8in. (22.9 x 25.7 x 10.5cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1989.808.1

DescriptionA tinplate teapot with a painted, cast pewter handle having a flat tinplate cutout of a man and woman affixed to the top of the lid; the couple stands under a three-dimensional canopy also affixed to the top of the lid.

Artist/Maker unidentified.
Label TextThe celebration of wedding anniversaries via special gifts and festivities seems to have originated in medieval Germany, where friends presented wives with silver and gold wreaths on their twenty-fifth and fiftieth anniversaries. Over time, other "lesser" anniversaries began to be observed in other parts of Europe, as well. During the second quarter of the nineteenth century, Americans are believed to have originated the custom of presenting tenth wedding anniversary celebrants with fanciful gifts made of tin.

For the occasion, anniversary couples often dressed in their wedding clothes and reaffirmed their vows before a gathering of family and friends, who afterwards joined in a gay celebration of the marital decade. Guests frequently spurned practicality and usefulness in their choices of gifts which, instead, tended to range from the whimsical to the outrageous. Mock accessories and articles of clothing were favorite selections, e.g., plumed hats, beribboned slippers, jewelry, and pocket watches, all of them made of tin and most of them utterly unwearable. Household items, such as cups, cradles, baskets, and picture frames, were given, too, and some of these actually were functional.

However, this witty teapot probably only served refreshments at the anniversary party itself. Adapted from a traditional neo-classical teapot form, ornamented with cutouts of the harmonious couple, and stamped "1856" on one side and "1866" on the other, it delightfully documents a little-known nineteenth-century American custom, even though its specific history remains unknown.

InscribedNo
MarkingsThe object is stamped "1856" on one side and "1866" on the other.
ProvenanceDavid A. Schorsch, Greenwich, Conn.; Donald R. Walters, Goshen, Ind.; Howard and Catherine Feldman, Bethlehem, Penn.; an unidentified owner; America Hurrah, New York, NY.