Coffee Pot

Artist John Blowers (American, 1711 - 1748)

Dateca. 1735

MediumSilver and wood

DimensionsOverall: 10 1/8 × 9 3/4 × 5 3/4 inches (25.72 × 24.77 × 14.61 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: acquired through the generosity of Gary Smith

Object number2017.2

MarkingsMarked on the right of the handle, below the rim, Blowers in semi-script in an elongated oval.

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

Architecture, Design and Decorative Arts

Terms

DescriptionThe coffeepot has a tapered cylindrical form with a slightly flared base and a swan-neck spout with a half-baluster motif below the spout. Heart and teardrop piercings decorate the interior where the spout meets the pot. An engraved coat of arms is on one side, with armorials in a scrolled strapwork cartouche. The lid is a high dome with a baluster final top. The coffeepot’s curving wooden handle (in two pieces) has a scrolled thumbpiece. It also has a silver repair in the bottom quarter of the handle. The piece has the maker’s mark to the right of the handle, below the rim with “Blowers” in semi-script in an elongated oval.Gallery Label

Gallery Label

In colonial America, drinking coffee and owning silver vessels were status symbols. American silversmiths often based their coffee pots on English models. They would copy designs from imported prints or silver heirlooms brought to the colonies by English settlers. This coffee pot is the largest known example to have survived the colonial period. The intricately engraved coat of arms indicates that the pot was owned by John Jones, a prosperous Boston merchant. Perhaps pride of ownership helped save it from being melted down like so many other silver vessels.

Provenance

John Jones (d. 1767) and Mary Ann Jones (née Faneuil) (1715-1790);

By descent through the Jones family;

Their sale, Fine American Furniture, Silver, Folk Art and Related Decorative Arts, Sotheby’s, New York, June 30-July 1, 1983, lot 96;

Eric Martin Wunsch, 1983-2017;

Sotheby’s New York, Important American Furniture, Folk Art and Silver, 20 January 2017, Lot 765;

Purchased from Sotheby’s by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2017.

Published References

Fine American Furniture, Silver, Folk Art and Related Decorative Arts (New York: Sotheby's, 30 June - 1 July 1983), 96 (repro.).

Patricia E. Kane, Colonial Massachusetts Silversmiths and Jewelers (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 1998), 191.

Important American Furnirture, Folk Art and Silver (New York: Christies, 20 January 2017), 193 (repro.).

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