Coffee Pot

Artist Robert Calderwood (Irish, d. 1766)

Factory/Foundry Workshop of Robert Calderwood

Place of OriginDublin, Ireland

Dateabout 1746

DimensionsOverall height with lid: 9 5/8 in. (24.5 m)
Height of lid with finial: 2 1/8 in. (5.4 m)
Height of finial: 1 13/16 in. (3.05 m)
Height of body without lid: 7 ½ in. (19.1 m)
Diameter of lid: 3 ¾ in (9.6 m)
Width from handle to end of spout: 9 ¼ in. (23.5 m)
Width from side to side: 4 ¼ in. (10.8 m)
Diameter of foot: 4 in. (10.2 m)

MediumRaised silver, chased, engraved

ClassificationMetalwork

Credit LineGift of Donald L. and Deirdre Solomon

Object number

2011.5

Not on View

DescriptionThe silver coffee pot, raised from sheet, has a cylindrical tapering body and a rounded bottom which rests on a short, molded foot, a leaf-capped curved spout, and a hinged domed cover and pinecone finial. In order to insulate the user from the hot liquid, an S-curved carved fruit wood (?) handle is attached to the body with cast scrolled sockets. The vessel is chased and engraved overall with shells, fruit, scrolls, foliage and an Eros holding a quiver with arrows, the spout with a mask, the body engraved on either side with a central cartouche enclosing an armorial emblem. On one side, it encloses a crest of a dexter arm in armor embowed, the hand clasping a sword (rapier?) all proper, on the other a family crest – both arms are yet unidentified. The spout of the coffee pot is set high near the center of the body to avoid pouring out the grounds.

Label TextRobert Calderwood owned one of the most prolific goldsmith’s workshops in Dublin in the mid-18th century. This coffeepot was most likely made for William Richardson of Rossfad, Ballinmallard, County Fermanagh, and Isabella Mussenden of Belfast, who married in 1746. Coffee became a popular drink in the early 18th century and gradually took over from hot chocolate, which was a much more bitter drink than it is today. By the mid-18th century, coffee was considered to be the drink of the intellectual male, while tea was more favored by women.Published Referencesc.f. Christie’s, London, Silver, Objects of Vertu, Portrait Miniatures, sale date: 10 November 1993, lot 211. For the marks: Jackson, Sir Charles James, English Goldsmiths and their marks, 2nd rev. edition 1921, p. 612. Pickford, Ian (ed.), Jackson’s Silver and Gold Marks of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 3rd ed., Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collector’s Club, 1989, p. 638. Alison Fitzgerald, "Cosmopolitan commerce: the Dublin goldsmith Robert Calderwood,"Apollo, 1st Sept, 2005.