Coffeepot

Date1734-1735

Artist/Maker John Jacob

MediumSilver (Sterling); wood

DimensionsOH: 10 9/16"; OW: 9 1/2"

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Anna Glen B. Vietor

Object number1980-71,1

DescriptionBaluster-shaped body with domed cover and splayed base; each component divided into broad vertical panels by narrow sections of fluting. S-shaped spout with scrolled cartouche-like framing on lower half and at juncture to body. Stylized acorn finial; scrolled wooden handle. Engraved with Randolph family coat of arms on side.Label TextThis coffeepot is important both as a highly stylish and ambitious piece of English silver with a Williamsburg history and more directly as part of the original furnishings of the Peyton Randolph House. Engraved with the arms of the Randolph family of Virginia, it was owned by Sir John Randolph (1693-1737) and his son, Peyton Randolph (ca. 1721-1775). In the late baroque style, it hails from a relatively small group of mid-1730s French-inspired London coffeepots with domed covers, broad baluster-shaped bodies, and splayed bases divided into broad vertical panels by narrower sections of fluting. This type of formal shaping is very French in character, as is the scrolled cartouche-like framing of the lower face of the spout and its base. Not surprisingly, these coffeepots are the work mainly of London Silversmiths of French background, in this instance, John (Jean) Jacob.Inscription(s)Engraved on side of body with the coat of arms of John Randolph of Virginia:

Arms: Gules [red] on a cross or [gold], 5 mullets of the first [i.e. gules]

Note: The fleur-de-lis in the first quarter is a mark of cadence, indicating the sixth son in an armigerous family. (Born in 1693, Sir John Randolph was the sixth and youngest son of William and Mary Isham Randolph of Turkey Island in Charles City County, Virginia.)

Crest: An antelope’s head couped [cut at the neck], holding in its mouth a baton or [gold]

Motto: “Nil Admirari” (Latin for “Equanimity”)

Mark(s)Marked on base in relief: 1) lion passant; 2) leopard's head crowned; 3) date letter "T" for 1734/35; and sponsor's mark "I·I" with crown above and star below in a conforming shield for John [Jean] Jacob. See Grimwade, 3rd rev and enlarged ed, 1990, #1421.ProvenanceThis coffeepot is engraved with the arms of the Randolph family of Virginia, including a fleur-de-lis as a mark of cadence indicating its initial ownership by Sir John Randolph (1693-1737), the sixth and youngest son of William and Mary Isham Randolph of Turkey Island in Charles City County, Virginia.

From thence to: Peyton Randolph (ca. 1721-1775),
Edmund Randolph (1753-1812),
Susan Beverley Randolph (1781-1846),
J[ohn] C. R. Taylor (c. 1800-
Cornelia Jefferson Taylor

documents 1980-71 ,2 "confirms completely that the framed statement signed by Miss Taylor which accompanies the silver coffee pot now in the possession of Randolph's descendant Mrs. Alexander O. Vietor and left to her by her uncle Beverley R. Robinson in 1952."