Coffeepot

Charles Le Roux

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

With its assertive linearity, tall tapering body, and high-domed lid, this vessel represents the earliest form of coffeepot made in colonial America. It and the accompanying square salver with an upcurved rim and bracket feet (1997.498.2) are rarities in American silver. Both are engraved with the arms of Assheton quartering Shepley, for Ralph Assheton (1695-1745/6) of Philadelphia. The coffeepot and salver remained together, in family hands, until 1989.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art