The craze for tea and coffee, introduced from the Orient and the Middle East to England during the mid-seventeenth century, reached the American colonies around 1700. By mid-century, greater affordability of the exotic beverages prompted a proliferation of forms to accommodate the rituals of tea and coffee drinking. Ceramic teapots, cream pots, slop bowls, strainers, and sugar bowls were imported from England to the colonies, where eight tons of tea were consumed in 1759 in Boston. For those who could afford it, the same forms were available in silver, either imported from England or made locally. Matched silver tea sets were available by 1750, but they were extremely expensive. Far more common was the pairing of small silver cream pots, such as this one, with ceramic teapots and sugar bowls.

Paul Revere I, a French Huguenot and the father of the more famous silversmith, his namesake, was born Apollos Rivoire in Riaucaud, France. He emigrated to Boston, where there was an established Huguenot community, in 1715. After serving an apprenticeship to John Coney (q.v.), Revere set up his own business, which was later inherited by his son Paul Revere (q.v.), the patriot, who had been his father's apprentice. The few pieces of the elder Revere's work that have survived exhibit the meticulous craftsmanship associated with Coney's apprentices.

This trifid cream pot has often been attributed to Paul Revere I and Paul Revere II, probably because each produced almost identical versions of the form. However, only the mark of the elder Revere appears on the bottom of the piece, whereas several other pots are known to bear the mark of both men. An identical creamer, attributed to Paul Revere I, was made for his sister-in-law, Mary Hitchbourn, and is now in the collection of the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts. The undulating curves and broken lines characteristic of the Rococo style are found here in the scalloped rim, double-scrolled handle, bulbous body, and cast cabriole feet. The rich effect of rococo is achieved without the expense of overall engraving or chasing, making this a popular form, produced by many contemporary silversmiths during the second and third quarters of the eighteenth century.

WNH and KB


REFERENCES

"Early Boston Silver." Currier Gallery of Art Bulletin, January 1949, n.p.

Kathryn C. Buhler. American Silver from the Colonial Period Through the Early
Republic in the Worcester Art Museum. Worcester, MA: Worcester Art Museum, 1979. Pp. 24-25.

Morrison H. Heckscher and Leslie Greene Bowman. American Rococo, 1750-1775: Elegance in Ornament. Ex. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992. Pp. 89-94.