The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Tea Urn

Date:: 1791
Geography:: New England, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Culture:: American
Medium:: Silver, ivory
Dimensions:: Overall: 22 1/4 x 10 5/8 x 10 3/8 in. (56.5 x 27 x 26.4 cm); 110 oz. 10 dwt. (3437.2 g) Body: H. 17 15/16 in. (45.6 cm); 88 oz. 9 dwt. (2750.9 g) Cover: 7 in. (17.8 cm); Diam. 6 in. (15.2 cm); 11 oz. 5 dwt. (350.7 g) Insert: H. 9 13/16 in. (24.9 cm); 10 oz. 15 dwt. (335.6 g)
Classification:: Silver
Credit Line:: Purchase, The Annenberg Foundation Gift, Annette de la Renta, Mr. and Mrs. Robert G. Goelet, Drue Heinz, and Henry R. Kravis Foundation Inc. Gifts, Friends of the American Wing Fund, Margaret Dewar Stearns Bequest, Mr. and Mrs. Anthony L. Geller and Herbert and Jeanine Coyne Foundation Gifts, Max H. Gluck Foundation Inc. Gift, in honor of Virginia and Leonard Marx, and Rogers, Louis V. Bell and Dodge Funds; and Gift of Elizabeth K. Rodiger, 1990
Accession Number:: 1990.226a–d

This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 750

Description

The urn is recorded in Revere's ledgers, where on April 20, 1791, a debit is charged to Mrs. Hannah Rowe for a silver tea urn weighing 111 ounces. It is the earliest and the largest of the three known tea or coffee urns by Revere.
Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Inscription: engraved on each side in interlaced script: HR lightly scratched on underside of foot: 1011 ( or 1101)

Marking: marked on front and back of plinth: [pellet]REVERE (in rectangle)
Provenance

Hannah Speakman Rowe (1725–1805); to her great-niece Hannah Rowe Linzee Amory (1775–1845); according to family history, to her daughter Mary Linzee Amory Dexter (1798–1859); to her son Edward Amory Dexter (1819–1865); to his daughter Ellen Amory Dexter King (b. 1858); to her son Albert Freeman Amory King (1896–1979); to his daughter Elizabeth Dexter King Rodiger (b. 1929); with Firestone & Parker, Inc., Boston; purchased by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1990.
See also
Who
Paul Revere Jr. (68)
What
Metal (59,369)

Vessels (21,921)

Silver (14,057)

Bone (6,328)

Ivory (5,389)

Urns (165)
Where
North and Central America (81,404)

United States (78,109)

Massachusetts (1,048)

Boston (439)
When
A.D. 1600-1800 (66,180)
In the Museum
American Decorative Arts (11,825)
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
Paul Revere, Jr. (1734–1818)

Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate in Early Colonial America

Art and Society of the New Republic, 1776–1800

The United States, 1600–1800 A.D.