Teapot

Lille Mint

ca. 1750 · Silver, wood · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Tea never attained the popularity of chocolate or coffee in France, and relatively few eighteenth-century French silver teapots survive. Most of those that do are northern French. This example, made near the Flemish border, reflects the lingering popularity there of interlaced scrollwork and foliate decoration. These motifs were no longer fashionable in Paris after the 1730s, with the emergence of the Rococo style, which makes a tentative appearance here in the spiral fluting of the base and lid and in the undulating engraved border.

Artist

Lille Mint

Date

ca. 1750

Medium

Silver, wood

Culture

French, Valenciennes

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Bequest of Catherine D. Wentworth, 1948