Teapot

ca. 1782
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 750
This drum-shaped teapot represents a transition to the Neoclassical style. It is one of six surviving Boston examples of this type, all made in the Revere shop. The oval-shaped teapots (33.120.543) so characteristic of Revere's post-Revolutionary War production were made from rolled sheet silver seamed at the handle. The drum-shaped bodies, however, were hammered up from a single disk of silver. Neoclassical styling is evident in the straight reeded spout and handle sockets of this pot and in the cast pinecone finial. The monogram "S I B," engraved on the body in intertwined script, is that of Stephen and Isannah (Hichborn) Bruce, who were married at Kings Chapel in Boston in the autumn of 1776. Isannah was a cousin of Revere’s. The teapot descended in the family until 1969, when it was donated to the Museum.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Teapot
  • Maker: Paul Revere Jr. (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1734–1818 Boston, Massachusetts)
  • Date: ca. 1782
  • Geography: Made in Boston, Massachusetts, United States
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Silver
  • Dimensions: Overall: 6 1/2 x 9 3/8 in. (16.5 x 23.8 cm); 17 oz. 7 dwt. (539.2 g)
    Base: Diam. 4 1/8 in. (10.5 cm)
  • Credit Line: Gift of Frances Arnold, 1969
  • Object Number: 69.147
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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