Images(3)

Teapot

Date1790

Maker John Lynch (1761-1848)

OriginAmerica, Maryland, Baltimore

MediumSilver; wood

DimensionsOH: 5 3/4" OW: 10 3/4"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Stuart H. Brown Fund

Object number2010-8

DescriptionOval teapot with straight sides; applied, molded baseband with band of dots and light wriggle work engraving above; bright-cut engraving on both sides of a vacant shield and swag suspended with a bow knot with festoons above crossed branches tied with a bow; band of leaves and dots below applied, molded lip connected to flat top rising to a hinged, domed lid with engraved wriggle work and worn peened wooden finial; straight, conical spout rises above the lip; wooden scroll handle pinned into straight sockets; two interior pins added later, soldered in place, evidence of a third, missing pin.
Label TextJohn Lynch’s teapot is an example of the fully developed neoclassical style in American silver. Its simple oval form, tapered straight spout, and delicate engraving of swag-draped shields are all signature features of the fashion that rapidly came to dominate household furnishings following the end of the American Revolution. The teapot is constructed of sheet silver made with a rolling or flatting mill, a labor-saving device that became more widely available to silversmiths throughout the new nation during the last decades of the eighteenth-century.

John Lynch (1761-1848) was working as a silversmith in Baltimore by 1786. He protested the establishment of the Assay Office in 1814 and is listed in the returns for 1817, 1818, 1819, and 1820.

Clockmaker and silversmith John Lynch worked in Federal-era Baltimore, which was then the fastest growing city in America. This teapot is an good example of his work, executed in the fully developed neoclassic style that was popular in that increasingly cosmopolitan seaport. The pot’s simple oval form, tapered straight spout, and delicately engraved, swag-draped shields are all signature features of the fashion. With work of this quality available locally, Marylanders no longer needed to order such goods from British factors or northern retailers.
Markings"I LYNCH" stamped in relief in a rectangle.
ProvenanceJohn Lynch (1761-1848) was working as a silversmith in Baltimore by 1786. He protested the establishment of the Assay Office in 1814 and is listed in the returns for 1817, 1818, 1819, and 1820.

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