Teakettle on stand

Soon after the opening of Japan to foreign trade in 1853, Japanese woodblock prints, watercolors, architectural details, and pattern books entered the libraries of American silver manufacturers, inspiring designers to create a sumptuous body of silver in the Japanesque style, popular from the 1860s to the 1880s. Intended as part of a matching set, this teakettle on stand, with its Japanese-inspired bamboo ties, is one of at least ten variations produced by Gorham in the mid-1870s. The austere simplicity contrasts with the more lavish silver made in America in the Japanese taste. It is nearly unique in an era that favored ornamental eclecticism and has been described as anticipating the streamline moderne look of the 1930s by more than fifty years.

Cost records for this model survive, providing information on the time and division of labor required for its fabrication. Silversmithing required sixty-seven hours, plus two and one-half hours for spinning. Cast elements took one and two-thirds hours. Finishing of the kettle and stand included five hours of stoning, four hours of bobbing, and six hours of burnishing, resulting in the superb surface it has retained. The projected cost was $180.40: $82.35 for the silver and just under $100 for labor. The record further documents that the ivory insulators cost $1.

This text has been adapted from "Silver of the Americas, 1600-2000," edited by Jeannine Falino and Gerald W.R. Ward, published in 2008 by the MFA. Complete references can be found in that publication..