Tea was introduced to the English by the middle of the seventeenth century. Initially valued for its curative properties, it became the social beverage of choice by the century's end. Initially, its considerable expense limited its enjoyment to the upper classes, they being the only ones who could afford the precious leaves and requisite vessels to make and serve properly the exotic Chinese brew.

The first American silver teapots, patterned after Oriental wine pots, date to the beginning of the eighteenth century, and most bear the stamps of New York craftsmen. The Bayou Bend teapot, fashioned in the Late Baroque style, is virtually devoid of ornament, relying instead on the curvilinear contour for its pleasing aesthetic. Concurrently, New York silversmiths produced larger, pear-shaped teapots with either round or polygonal contours, which, based on extant examples, appear to have been preferred over this spherical shape.

Technical notes: The body and lid are raised. A pin passes from the interior into the base of the cast spout. The cast handle sockets and spout are polygonal. Below the rim is a subtly engraved border of cross-hatching. The vented lid is attached by a three-part hinge, and its finial base is set in and soldered in place. The wooden handle is a replacement.

Related examples:  A teapot struck with the stamp of Simeon Soumain (ca. 1685–1750), closely related to the Bayou Bend example, belongs to the Museum of the City of New York (acc. no. 78.11). Other examples include Bohan and Hammerslough 1970, pp. 46–47, pls. 23–24; Safford 1983, p. 20, no. 20; Davidson and Stillinger 1985, p. 209.

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff.  American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.