Teapot

Arts of the Americas

1848

Obadiah Rich
American, 1809–1888
Boston

Made in the Rococo revival mode by Boston silversmith Obadiah Rich, this teapot includes repoussé ornament and asymmetrical cartouches. On one side, a cartouche is inscribed with the date of the teapot and the initials “RL” and “LL,” presumably for the Boston owners of this vessel. On the other side, a laborer carrying a yoke laden with baskets of produce walks in a lush landscape, likely that of the tropical West Indies.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Obadiah Rich
Title: Teapot
Place: Boston (Artist's nationality:)
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.: 1848
Medium: Silver and wood
Inscriptions: Marked on bottom: O.RICH. / BOSTON / fine Engraved on side: R.L. 1848 L.L.
Dimensions: H.: 14.4 cm (5 3/4 in.)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by Mr. and Mrs. William B. McIlvaine Jr.
Reference Number: 1981.3
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/61570/manifest.json

Art Institute of Chicago Annual Report 1980–81 (Art Institute of Chicago, 1981) p. 82, fig. 68.
Judith A. Barter, Elizabeth McGoey, et al., American Silver in the Art Institute of Chicago (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016), cat. 45 (ill.).
Elizabeth McGoey, ed., American Silver in the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2018), https://publications.artic.edu/americansilver/reader/collection/section/6, cat. 45 (ill.).

With Jonathan Trace, Putnam Valley, NY, by 1981; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1981.

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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.

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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.

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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.