Coffeepot

Artist Jean-Valentin Morel (French, 1794 - 1860)

Manufacturer Morel & Cie (1842 - 1848)

Dateca. 1842-1848

MediumSilver with gilding and ivory

DimensionsOverall: 11 1/2 × 9 × 4 3/4 inches (29.21 × 22.86 × 12.07 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: the Lillian M. Diveley Fund

Object number2006.45.2

MarkingsMaker's mark AV tongs between, teapot and coffee pot additionally stamped Morel & Cie

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

Architecture, Design and Decorative Arts

Terms

DescriptionThe service is comprised of a lidded teapot, lidded coffeepot, cream jug and sugar bowl with lid. The pedestal bases of all four pieces are similar in style: three-petaled gilt leaves radiate from the center and the edge is encircled with a beaded gilt border. The teapot and sugar bowl have an onion-dome shaped bulb between their base and body. Each piece is of ovoid form cupped on four sides with a fluted and gilt-beaded shell. With the exception of the coffeepot, each shell is encircled with gilded and ribbed banding; the banding extends on the teapot to form a double looped handle. The shells are crowned with a cluster of gilded leaves, similar to type of leaves on the base, which radiate from a gilded flower head. The lids of the teapot and sugar bowls are formed by four inversed shells. The triangular areas formed between the shells are ornamented with flowers and foliage. The finials of the teapot and sugar bowl lids are in the form of a flower bud with gilded beading. The handles of the cream jug and the coffeepot are ornamented with gilded beading on the sides; the coffee pot handle also has gilded diagonal and crisscrossed gilded lacing and is inlaid with ivory. The coffeepot spout is decorated with tri-lobed triangular motifs enclosed in a lattice of gilded ribs that intersect on the sides with a vertical gilded rib and bead. The neck of the coffeepot is ornamented with scalework and gilded beading; the lid is helmet shaped and decorated with gilded scrolls and beading.Gallery Label

Gallery Label

This coffee and tea service displays a masterful combination of shimmering shells, plants, banding, and beading. Together, these elements satisfied the mid-1800s taste for nature, ornament, and luxury. Jean-Valentin Morel melded German and Italian Renaissance forms and motifs. The repoussé ridges and balls that appear to be applied were actually hand worked from the inside out. Fine details were achieved through chasing, or defining features added to the exterior surface of the silver.

Provenance

Purchased at A Celebration of the English Country House, Sotheby’s, New York, April 18, 2002, lot 34, possibly by Mark’s Antiques, London, 2002-2006 [1];

Purchased from Mark’s Antiques, through Sotheby’s, London, by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2006 [2].

NOTES:

[1] In a listing for the service on Mark’s Antiques’s website, accessed November 28, 2006, the copyright for the images is listed as “2002 A. M. Marks Ltd.” If the images are copyright 2002, it is possible Mark’s Antiques acquired the service at the April 18, 2002 Sotheby’s sale. They certainly had it by January 2005, when it was illustrated in a Mark’s Antiques’s advertisement printed in Apollo, 161, no. 515 (Jan 2005).

[2] The service was offered at The Great Exhibitions, Sotheby’s London, October 31, 2006, lot 544, but failed to sell. The Nelson-Atkins purchased it in a post-sale transaction.

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