Israel Trask
Coffeepot

MakerAmerican, 1786–1867
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Coffeepot
Datec. 1820–1840
Made inBeverly, Massachusetts, United States
MediumPewter, wood
Dimensions12 3/4 × 5 15/16 × 10 1/2 in. (32.4 × 15.1 × 26.7 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.53.9
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Metals Study Room
On view

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

The coffeepot is among the largest and most complex domestic forms the American pewterer fashioned. While eighteenth-century manuscripts occasionally refer to them, only a few examples—all associated with William Will—are known. Their scarcity implies that few shops possessed the costly molds required to produce the vessel. By the early nineteenth century, with the invention of Britannia and the attendant new production methods, more American craftsmen began to manufacture coffeepots. Israel Trask’s vessels are distinctive for their design and construction.

Technical notes: Trask and other Beverly craftsmen, including Ebenezer Smith, Jr., and the partnership of Lee and Creesy, constructed their coffeepots from rolled and seamed sheet metal. A six-inch plate was set in for the bottom of the Bayou Bend example. A three-part hinge is attached to the lid, and its finial is riveted. Although the object is referred to as a coffeepot, its spout has a strainer such as one would find on a teapot.

Related examples: Garrett et al. 1985, p. 147, no. 160. Trask adapted this design for flagons, in Watts 1968, pp. 45–46, nos. 117, 119.

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[Carl and Celia Jacobs, Southwick, Massachusetts]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, 1953; given to MFAH, by 1966.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
[no inscriptions]
On bottom: mark of Israel Trask [Laughlin 1940, vol. 2, p.114]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

Coffeepot
Ebenezer Smith, Jr.
c. 1814–1825
Pewter with wood
B.53.15
Coffeepot or Teapot
Roswell Gleason
c. 1830–1870
Pewter (britannia metal), unidentified wood
B.75.70
Coffeepot
Ebenezer Smith, Jr.
c. 1814–1825
Pewter with unidentified wood
B.2013.32
Untitled
Margaret Ponce Israel
1978
Wood, paint, and ceramic
2007.884
Kettle on Stand
c. 1740–1780
Pewter, paint, and wood
B.56.37
Flagon
Boardman & Company
c. 1825–1827
Pewter and wood
B.53.10
Teapot
William Will
c. 1785–1798
Pewter, wood
B.61.27
"Wunderkammer" Necklace
Jennifer Trask
2007
Sterling silver, 18k, 22k, and 24k gold, copper, shakudo, steel, ivory, hematite, carnelian, garnet, hessonite, moonstones, butterfly wings, pandora moth wings, dragonfly and cranefly wings, feathers, snakeskin, glass eyes of fish and reptiles, eyeshadow made of fish scales, gold powder, mica powder, bronze powder, gold and mica flakes, crushed shells, bronze shavings, ficus leaf, and rust
2009.1660.1
"Wunderkammer" Brooch
Jennifer Trask
2007
Sterling silver, 18k, 22k, 24k gold, copper, shakudo, steel, citrine, and glass eyes of fish and reptiles
2009.1660.3
"Wunderkammer" Brooch
Jennifer Trask
2007
Sterling silver, 18k, 22k, 24k gold, copper, shakudo, steel, and glass eyes of fish and reptiles
2009.1660.2
Coffeepot
Joseph Lownes
c. 1790–1800
Silver and wood
B.61.11.1
Rapunzel's Tower/Village of Cups
Margaret Ponce Israel
c. 1968
Earthenware and feather
2009.1145.A,.B