Teapot
Artist
Christian Wiltberger
(American, 1766-1851)
CultureAmerican
Dateca. 1785-1800
MediumSilver and wood
DimensionsOverall: 9 1/2 x 9 in. (24.1 x 22.9 cm)
Base: 3 3/8 in. (8.6 cm)
Base: 3 3/8 in. (8.6 cm)
InscribedMaker's mark in two locations on opposite sides of the plinth: C. Wiltberger. Engraved script monogram might be interpreted as: ACJ or even MF
Credit LineGift of Dorothy G. Tripician
Object number2002.17
Not on view
DescriptionThis is a neo-classical urn-shaped, silver teapot on high splayed foot with a wooden handle. It is set diagonally on a square plinth, and has a concave shoulder; the hinged stepped, splayed cover flares at top to a small dome with urn-shaped finial. The curved spout has a notched end; curved handle sockets -- the top one in a "c" shape. There are narrow, beaded bands: they are on the top and bottom edges of the splayed foot, on the shoulder, on the rim of the body, on the cover at the stepped edge and the base of the dome, on the edge of the shoulder of the urn finial, also on the outline of the spout and ebonized wood handle.Label TextChristian Wiltberger American (1766-1851) Teapot, Philadelphia ca. 1785-1800 Silver and wood Gift of Dorothy G. Tripicain 2002.17 This teapot, which apparently retains its original wood handle, is a superb example of a neoclassical urn-form teapot. Its maker, Christian Wiltberger, apprenticed under Philadelphia silversmith, Richard Humphreys (1750-1832). Humphries made the earliest known American neoclassical silver object in 1774-a tea urn commissioned by the First Continental Congress as a gift for its secretary. ProvenanceMrs. Edward (Edith) Harrison, New Jersey, until 1947; bequested to Marjory Pray, ca. 1947; bequested to Dorothy G. Tripician, Virginia Beach, Virginia; Gift of Dorothy G. Tripician to the Chrysler Museum of Art, 2002. Exhibition History"Reopening of the Joan P. Brock Galleries," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., Opening in March of 2008.
ca. 1695
