Nathaniel Hurd
Coffeepot

MakerAmerican, 1729/30–1777
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Coffeepot
Datec. 1751–1777
Made inBoston, Massachusetts, United States
MediumSilver
Dimensions9 3/4 x 4 x 8 1/4 in. (24.8 x 10.2 x 21 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.69.95
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Metals Study Room
On view

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

Coffee was an exotic Turkish beverage introduced to Europe in the 1630s. First used as a curative, it soon became a popular social drink. Boston’s town minutes for 1670–71 grant permission for “a house of publique Entertainment for the sellinge of Coffee & Chuchaletto [chocolate].”  However, some time would pass before coffee attained a status deeming it suitable for domestic gatherings. The earliest coffeepots have tall, cylindrical, upward-tapering bodies, with rounded or polygonal cast spouts and domed lids.  Later, the form began to assume a pear shape, its lid slightly domed, and its spout adorned with ornament. With its Rococo engraving, the Bayou Bend coffeepot is a composite of these two types.

Technical notes: The body and lid are raised. The side is cut out in an oval for the spout. Both handle sockets are attached to disks mounted at the handle juncture. The wooden handle is pinned through the top socket but not the bottom. The finial is riveted.

Related examples: The only other Nathaniel Hurd coffeepot is published in Antiques 102 (December 1972), p. 966. The Bayou Bend pot also closely relates to two other examples, the earlier marked by Jacob Hurd (Quimby 1995, pp. 122–24, no. 79), the second by his former apprentice and son-in-law, Daniel Henchman (Buhler and Hood 1970, vol. 1, pp. 172–74, no. 221).

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.


Provenance[James Graham and Sons, New York]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, 1954; given to MFAH, 1969.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Engraved on one side: arms of Mayor3 [3 superscript]
Engraved on other side: sheep's head crest of Mayor3 [3 superscript]
Engraved on base: 28..4..0 and 28..4
Left of handle and on base: mark of Nathaniel Hurd [Flynt and Fales 1968, p. 255]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Teaspoon and Spoon
Nathaniel Hurd
1751–1777
Silver
B.83.7.1,.2
Cann
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B.69.99
Cream Pot (Creamer)
Jacob Hurd
c. 1745–c. 1755
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B.69.112
Cann
Jacob Hurd
c. 1724–1740
Silver
B.61.18
Ladle
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Pap Boat
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c. 1815
Silver
B.97.53
Cann
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c. 1763–1807
Pewter
B.60.64
The Sheep Herder
Peter Hurd
1937
Lithograph
84.162
Capitulation of Vera Cruz
Nathaniel Currier
1847
Hand-colored lithograph on wove paper
B.69.282
Seige of Vera Cruz, March, 1847
Nathaniel Currier
1847
Lithograph with hand coloring
B.69.283
Attack of the Gun Boats upon the City, & Castle of San Juan de Ulloa
Nathaniel Currier
1847
Lithograph with hand coloring
B.69.280
Landing of the American Forces Under Genl. Scott
Nathaniel Currier
1847
Lithograph with hand coloring
B.69.281