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Tea Service

A work made of silver.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of silver.

Date:

1850

Artist:

Gorham & Thurber (American, 1850–52)
Providence, Rhode Island

About this artwork

This beverage service is the earliest documented set by Gorham and Thurber (later Gorham Manufacturing Company), one of the leading United States silver manufacturers active in the 19th and 20th centuries. An example of the ornate Rococo Revival style, the vessels are bulbous and boldly embossed with florid imagery related to their use. If you look closely at the pieces, you can see details such as tea leaves and scenes inspired by China on the teapot the largest of the set), cows in a pasture on the creamer, and a figure at work in a cane field on the sugar bowl.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Arts of the Americas

Artist

Gorham and Thurber

Title

Tea Service

Place

Providence (Object made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1850

Medium

Silver

Dimensions

Coffeepot: 21 × 15.9 × 12.1 cm (8 1/4 × 6 1/4 × 4 3/4 in.); Teapot: 22 × 23.9 × 14.6 cm (8 5/8 × 9 3/8 × 5 3/4 in.); Sugar bowl: 18.4 × 16.2 × 16.2 cm (7 1/4 × 6 3/8 × 6 3/8 in.); Creamer: 17.2 × 14.9 × 11.4 cm (6 3/4 × 5 7/8 × 4 1/2 in.); Waste bowl: 11.4 × 16.2 × 16.2 cm (4 1/2 × 6 3/8 × 6 3/8 in.)

Credit Line

Mary Swissler Oldberg Fund

Reference Number

2015.606.1-5

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/233466/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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