Coffee Can and Saucer
c. 1790
Medium
Stoneware (jasperware)
Dimensions
2.5 × 12.1 cm (1 × 4 3/4 in.); Cup: 7 × 9.2 cm (2 3/4 × 3 5/8 in.); Saucer: H.: 3.2 cm (1 1/4 in.)
Classification
teaware
Department
Applied Arts of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
67630
Art Historical Context
This elegant coffee can and saucer, crafted around 1790 by the Wedgwood Manufactory, exemplifies the refined taste of late eighteenth-century European tableware. Made from stoneware known as jasperware, the set features the material’s signature matte, unglazed surface that allowed for crisp, cameo-like relief decoration. Its modest scale—roughly the size of a modern espresso cup—reflects the period’s growing enthusiasm for coffee as a sophisticated social beverage. Wedgwood’s innovative jasperware technique, developed in the 1770s, combined durable stoneware with classical motifs inspired by ...
About the Artist
Wedgwood Manufactory
Wedgwood Manufactory, founded on 1 May 1759 by Josiah Wedgwood in Burslem, Staffordshire, England, revolutionized ceramics during the Industrial Revolution. Born into a family of potters, Josiah apprenticed under his elder brother Thomas at the Churchyard Works from age 14, mastering traditional techniques before partnering with Thomas Whieldon from 1754 to 1759, where he honed innovative glazes. ...