Minneapolis Institute of Art

Coffee pot from a coffee and tea set

Italy

Date

c. 1930

Medium

Silver

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Italian designs of the interwar years are notable for innovative, unadorned forms, often suggesting a streamlined dynamism. Unsurprising, since it was the Italian poet Marinetti who, as early as 1909, published the Futurist manifesto that heralded the machine, urban life, and speed as the visual expressions of a new reality. Traditional coffee and tea services consist of a coffee pot, teapot, creamer, and sugar basin, each in a different shape reflecting its function. This service is one of the few known to negate those respective forms-each piece is identical except in size. When placed in a row, they successfully capture the essence of movement. Marinetti would have been pleased. Italy, Europe

The authoritative record is held by Minneapolis Institute of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.