Paul Revere, Jr.
Teaspoon

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Teaspoon
Datec. 1796–1805
Made inBoston, Massachusetts, United States
MediumSilver
Dimensions5 1/4 × 5/8 in. (13.3 × 1.6 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by family and friends in memory of Aurelia Kurth Jameson
Object numberB.87.10.2
Not on view

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

Paul Revere’s teaspoons with their dazzling fluted bowls are the most fully developed Neoclassical expressions in American flatware. Unique to his shop in the United States, they were undoubtedly patterned after contemporary English spoons, such as the set engraved for Elizabeth Derby West of Danvers, Massachusetts. Surviving examples suggest Revere produced them for only four clients, his day-books referring to them as “Scoloped Tea Spoons.” The contoured bowls were fashioned to complement a variety of teawares, with fluted sides inspired by classical columns.

Technical notes: The drop is modeled. The results of a nondestructive energy- dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis are on file at Bayou Bend. 

Related examples: Seven spoons from this set are in Houston private collections (Warren 1996, pp. 727, 731); others are engraved for Gilman and his first wife, Abigail (1768–1796, married 1785), in Antiques 72 (December 1957), p. 504; Buhler 1972, vol. 2, p. 428, no. 379. Other examples are Buhler and Hood 1970, vol. 2, p. 191, no. 248; Quimby 1995, pp. 158–59, no. 113a; and the State Department collection, Washington, D.C. (acc. no. 91.37.1–.12). On occasion Revere’s shop also produced fluted salt spoons and ladles.

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.


ProvenanceNathaniel Gilman (1759–1847) and his second wife, Dorothy Folsom Gilman (1775–1859, m. 1796), Exeter, New Hampshire; Mark Bortman (1896–1967), Boston; given to his daughter, Jane Bortman Larus; [William Core Duffy, Kittery Point, Maine]; purchased by MFAH, 1987.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Engraved: NDG [Nathaniel and Dorothy Gilman]
Mark of Paul Revere, Jr. [Buhler 1972, vol. II, p. 385, c]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Teaspoon
Paul Revere, Jr.
c. 1765–1790
Silver
B.86.6
Teaspoon
Paul Revere, Jr.
c. 1796–1805
Silver
B.87.10.1
Spoon
Paul Revere, Jr.
1781
Silver
B.86.5
Slop Bowl
Paul Revere, Jr.
1797
Silver
B.69.98
Sugar Dish
Paul Revere, Jr.
c. 1755–1775
Silver
B.69.109.A,.B
Bookplate for Isaiah Thomas (1749–1831)
Paul Revere, Jr.
c. 1765–1770
Engraving on laid paper
B.81.3
The Bloody Massacre
Paul Revere, Jr.
1770
Engraving and etching with hand coloring on laid paper
B.84.9
Cereal Bowl
Paul Revere Pottery
1905
Ceramic
85.213
Pair of Spurs and Buckles
William Mitchell, Jr.
c. 1815–1845
Silver
B.86.3.A-.D
scan from file photograph
John Owen, Jr.
c. 1804–1831
Silver
B.87.5
Cruet Stand
John David, Jr.
c. 1757–1798
Silver
B.82.1
Saltcellar (one of a pair)
Joseph Edwards, Jr.
c. 1758–1783
Silver
B.80.4.2