The earliest American pewter teapots are spherical and, like most pewter forms, patterned after their silver counterparts. The pear shape was introduced by the second decade of the eighteenth century in silver and by the 1740s in pewter. Not only was it visually pleasing, but also the rotund body lent itself to the task of brewing tea. The latest silver interpretations date from the 1760s, whereas pewterers, rarely wont to relinquish their costly molds, continued to produce pearshaped teapots well into the following century.

Technical notes: The teapot's body was cast in two parts and joined at its greatest diameter by fusing the components. The vented lid is attached by a five-part hinge, and the finial is riveted. The handle is an unidentified wood. Will altered his teapot mold during the 1780s in an effort to adapt his castings to the later Neoclassical style.

William Will’s interpretation of the vessel, like the rest of this accomplished pewterer’s work, is characterized by a high-quality metal, exacting craftsmanship, and a range of patterns unequaled by any other American pewterer. His teapots exhibit an evolution of design beginning with the pear-shaped form, which was later updated with ball-and-claw feet and finally replaced by a Neoclassical drum shape. Bayou Bend’s teapot, while pear-shaped, dates from the latest period, the design being updated with beading, or pearlwork, similar to that ornamenting Philadelphia silver.

Related examples:  Montgomery 1978, pp. 173, 175, no. 11–7.

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.