A shiny, brown colored coffee pot with yellow, white, and orange and abstract floral decoration. The spout has a right angle and then a curve.
A shiny, brown colored coffee pot with yellow, white, and orange and abstract floral decoration. The spout has a right angle and then a curve.
A shiny, brown colored coffee pot with yellow, white, and orange and abstract floral decoration. The spout has a right angle and then a curve.
A shiny, brown colored coffee pot with yellow, white, and orange and abstract floral decoration. The spout has a right angle and then a curve.
A shiny, brown colored coffee pot with yellow, white, and orange and abstract floral decoration. The spout has a right angle and then a curve.
A shiny, brown colored coffee pot with yellow, white, and orange and abstract floral decoration. The spout has a right angle and then a curve.
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Unknown Maker, American

Toleware Coffeepot

Maker

Unknown Maker, American

Culture

American

Title

Toleware Coffeepot

Year

ca. 1840

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

tin-plated iron, black asphaltum, polychromatic

Geography

Place Made: Pennsylvania

Dimensions

27.3 x 16 cm (10 3/4 x 6 5/16 inches) (height x depth) base

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Museum Works of Art Fund

Object Number

44.014

Type

Exhibition History

Trading Earth
Ceramics, Commodities, and Commerce
Apr 09, 2022 – Aug 03, 2025

Label copy

Coffeepots from England and America face each other, representing volatile trade relations between the two. Just before the Revolutionary War, America’s coffee  consumption was soaring. At that time, the commodity was mainly imported from British-colonized Jamaica. When America gained independence, Britain prohibited the exportation of coffee on American vessels, which prompted savvy import merchants to quickly pivot to non-British suppliers including the French, successfully navigating an unpredictable Atlantic trade system.

American Folk Art from the Permanent Collection and Pilavin Collection of 20th-Century American Art
Jul 15, 1981 – Aug 15, 1981

Image use

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Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Unknown Maker, American
Toleware Coffeepot, ca. 1840
Tin with paint
27.3 x 16 cm (10 3/4 x 6 5/16 inches) (height x depth) base
Museum Works of Art Fund 44.014

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