Art Institute of Chicago

Coffeepot

Joseph Richardson, Sr. (American, 1711–1784)

Date

c. 1770

Medium

Silver with mahogany

Culture

Philadelphia

Department

Arts of the Americas

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

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.

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