Coffee Jug

Coffee jugs, used primarily for Turkish coffee, are distinguished from coffee pots by their short spouts fixed to the upper body of the jug. This design made it easier to pour Turkish coffee; the thick, sugary liquid, full of sediment, tended to clog longer, low-set spouts.

Paul de Lamerie, the maker of this coffee jug, was one of the foremost silversmiths in eighteenth-century London. He was born in Holland to Huguenot parents who moved to London in 1689. De Lamerie's earlier work was in the restrained early Queen Anne style, but by the 1730s he had adopted the Rococo style for domestic articles and large, extravagant pieces such as baskets and wine coolers.

This coffee jug is an exceptional example of Rococo style, which originated in France in the early 1700s and was imitated in England, Italy, and Germany. The jug displays all the principal Rococo features, such as asymmetrical ornamentation, flowing lines, and C- and S-curves. The surface decoration includes a variety of Rococo motifs including shells, flowers, foliage, and scrollwork. Below the spout, a spray of coffee leaves, indicating the pot’s function, rises from a scroll above a grotesque mask with a protruding tongue. De Lamerie gave full rein to the playful and the whimsical in executing this piece.

This coffee jug is from The Folgers Coffee Silver Collection donated to the Art Museum by The Procter and Gamble Company. Joseph S. Atha, former president and chairman of the board of the Folgers Coffee Company, developed one of the world's most significant collections of eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century English silver coffee pots and accessories.