George III sterling silver tea pot
date: label: Date
content: 1800
name: label: Manufactured by
content: Daniel Pontifex, English, 1768 - 1826
notes: label: Caption
content: This silver teapot represents the deadly plantation economy in the New World that satisfied the international demand for sugar, which became a staple in the English tea industry. It is also indicative of the financial success that sugar brought to prosperous slave owners, financiers, slave traders, sugar merchants, and the lifestyle maintained by sugar consumers in the United States. Sugar, Britain’s largest import, was also the focus of one of the first anti-slavery boycotts after the abolition bill was rejected by British Parliament in 1791. The boycott attempted to put economic pressure on the slave-dependent industry of sugar, hastening the end of the trade.
label: Description
content: A George III sterling silver teapot by Daniel Pontifex, London. It has an oval shaped body with a large, curved black wood handle later attached with brass rivet. The hinged lid is domed with raised fluting around the crown of the dome, radiating outwards from the knob on top of the lid. The knob is oval and is made of wood, painted black. There is a small silver finial capping off the knob. The lid is hinged at one end and flips upwards towards the handle. The rim flares outwards slightly and is decorated with a raised repeating striated pattern. The teapot's shoulders flare outwards and form a small flat rim around the circumference. The spout is short and is square in shape. The upper body of the teapot is smooth while the lower half is decorated by fluting in sections. One side of the teapot has an image of a large bird, possibly a pelican, with a fish in its mouth, etched into the upper half. On the opposite side is an image of a lion rampant, with a scroll over its head. In the scroll is text that reads "Forward." The teapot has an oval foot with four points, one at each corner. Each point is formed from a crease in the metal that runs vertically up the body of the body of the teapot. There are several silversmith hallmarks on the base: the maker’s mark "DP", certification of silver quality, city production mark, date letter "E", and duty mark.
place: label: Place made
content: London, England
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: British colonialism
label: Topic
content: Commerce
label: Topic
content: Cooking and dining
label: Topic
content: Design
label: Topic
content: Domestic life
label: Topic
content: Economics
label: Topic
content: Slave trade
label: Topic
content: Slavery
label: Topic
content: Sugarcane
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Decorative Arts, Craft, and Design
label: Exhibition
content: Slavery and Freedom
label: On View
content: NMAAHC (1400 Constitution Ave NW), National Mall Location, Concourse 3, C3 053
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2020.32.5.1
objectType: label: Type
content: teapots
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: No Known Copyright Restrictions
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: sterling silver with wood and brass
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D: 6 1/2 × 10 3/4 × 5 in. (16.5 × 27.3 × 12.7 cm)