Coffee pot

Status

Not on view

Label Text

George Washington's accounts from 1758 onwards record numerous purchases of coffee as well as the equipage needed to prepare the imported beverage and the vessels required to serve and drink it in style. He paid £37.17.6 for this "Silvr Coffee Pot" engraved with his coat of arms just days before resigning his commission as Commander in Chief in December 1783. An expensive form to produce, the coffeepot's raised and hammered double-bellied body, cast leaf- and scroll-decorated S-curved spout, and carved S-scroll wooden handle make it an excellent example of Rococo silver.

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Datec. 1783

Maker Joseph Anthony (American, 1762 - 1814)

Geography Made - United States

Medium/TechniqueSilver, ebony

DimensionsOverall: 14 1/4 in. x 9 1/2 in. x 5 1/8 in. (36.2 cm x 24.13 cm x 13.02 cm) Overall (Diameter of base): 5 1/8 in. x 5 1/8 in. (13.02 cm x 13.02 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mary Lee Bowman and Robert E. Lee IV, 1981

Object numberW-2517

DescriptionCoffee pot with a raised, double-bellied (or pear-shaped) body, incurved neck, and a cast and applied stepped rim. Raised circular foot has a plain, incurved pedestal, cast gadrooned middle and incised footring. The high-domed lid with hollow-cast, twisted bell-shaped finial and an applied cast gadrooned flange is attached to the upper handle socket by a five-part hinge. S-scroll spout cast in two vertical sections features an acanthus leaf at top, foliate design on lower front, and shell patterns around base. S-scroll hardwood handle with single cusp or sprig at top. Upper handle socket has a dependent shell and drop; the lower C-scroll handle socket terminates in a scroll and sprig, and is attached to the body by a large oval plate.

Body is engraved on one side with George Washington's crest (a griffin rising [facing the viewer's left] from a coronet with three strawberry leaves) and coat of arms (argent two bars gules; in chief three mullets gules) in an asymmetrical cartouche bordered by C scrolls, ruffled shells and foliate designs.
Published ReferencesCarol Borchert Cadou, The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2006), 116-7, cat. 32.

James C. Rees, Treasures from Mount Vernon: George Washington Revealed (Mount Vernon, VA: Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, 1999), 88.

Martha Gandy Fales, "The Silver," Antiques 135, no. 2 (February 1989): 522-3, pl. IX.

Kathryn C. Buhler, Mount Vernon Silver (Mount Vernon, VA: The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, 1957), 45, 48, fig. 21.

Benson J. Lossing, "Arlington House: The Seat of G.W.P. Custis, Esq.," Harper's New Monthly Magazine VII (September 1853): 442.

MarkingsStamped twice on underside, once above and below centerpunch: "J·Anthony" in script letters, in a conforming surround.

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