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The spout of this silver teapot faces our left and the black handle our right in this photograph. The body of the teapot would be oval shaped if viewed from above. The sides of the teapot are straight and fluted to create vertical columns that curve inward. The shallowly domed lid has a flat, black, disk-like knob. The long, straight, narrow spout tapers from the base of the teapot to the opening, which is level with the top of the teapot. The handle to the right curves like the right half of a heart and flares upward where the thumb would rest at the top of the curve. The handle is affixed to the body of the teapot with short silver sleeves. The body is engraved along the top and bottom with decorative bands of garlands and vegetal scrolls. A rose-like flower and leaves are incised near the base on the side facing us.

Paul Revere

Teapot, 1782

West Building, Ground Floor — Gallery G42-C

Medium

silver, wood, and metal

Dimensions

overall: 15.2 × 28.9 × 8.9 cm (6 × 11 3/8 × 3 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Corcoran Collection (Gift of Mr. and Mrs. E.D.W. Spingarn)

Accession Number

2014.136.365

Artists / Makers

Paul Revere (artist) American, 1735 - 1818

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

on the underside of the pot: REVERE; engraved at end of spout: M.O. to E.M.E / 1869; engraved on front of lid: [three illegible initials] / m. 1782

Provenance

Mary Otis, Boston;[1] gift 1869 to her niece, Emily Marshall Elliot [later Mrs. Samuel Elliot Morison];[2] gift 1925 to her granddaughter, Elizabeth Morison Spingarn [Mrs. Edward D.W. Spingarn], Washington; gift 1996 to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2014 by the National Gallery of Art.

[1] The provenance was provided in a letter of 11 November 1996, from the Corcoran donor, Elizabeth Springarn, to Linda Simmons, Corcoran curator; in NGA curatorial files.

[2] The teapot is inscribed "M.O. to E.M.E. / 1869."

Associated Names

Corcoran Gallery of Art
Spingarn, E.D.W.

Exhibition History

2008: The American Evolution: A History through Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, 2008.

Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, during World War II.