A cylindrical shape proved the most efficient and economical in the fabrication of a tumbler. Occasionally craftsmen altered the form, as exemplified by the Bayou Bend example. This serpentine contour, the most elegant of the variant forms, was introduced during the second half of the eighteenth century. It was adapted to a variety of media, including a teapot Paul Revere made as early as 1786

Technical notes: The body is a seamed construction. 

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.