Coffeepot
Joseph Richardson, Sr.
c. 1770
Medium
Silver with mahogany
Dimensions
75 × 29.5 × 55.7 cm (29 1/2 × 11 5/8 × 21 15/16 in.)
Classification
coffeepot
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
102121
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Because it was a costly import, coffee was not a popular beverage in early colonial America. Increased trade between the American colonies, South America, and the West Indies made coffee an accessible staple by the middle of the 18th century. Although the form of this single-bellied coffeepot suggests it was made at an earlier date, its broken scroll handle, double-domed cover, and leaf-and-shell decoration place this object firmly within the high Rococo period.