Chocolate Pot
Datec. 1857
MediumSterling silver and ivory
Dimensions9 3/8 × 8 1/4 × 4 1/4 inches (23.8 × 21 × 10.8 cm)
Portfolio/SeriesThe Rizza Silver Collection
MarkingsMaker's mark: S. KIRK & SON 11.OZ
Credit LineGift of Frank A. Rizza, M.D.
Object number2012.15.153
CopyrightThe images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextThrough much of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Samuel Kirk silversmith firm had a strong following, especially in the American South, for silver with robust repoussé and chased ornament, executed by hand. The combination of repoussé, in which shapes are pushed up in the silver from the back, and chasing, in which details are engraved in the surfaces, produces intricate, garden-like patterns. The Kirk firm fine-tuned their products and their decoration to customers’ specific orders. While taking one of Telfair Museums founder Mary Telfair’s orders with her sister Margaret, a clerk noted that “they like flowers to distinction and go in for Antique” (sic). This chocolate pot matches the one described in an order the Mary placed with the firm on October 31, 1857, for a "straight chocolate pot covered with flowers all over very close together and bumped out full. Engraved M. Telfair."
Text written for the exhibition 'Lingua Flora,' on view from June 21–September 8, 2024.
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