Coffee Maker By Gorham Manufacturing Co.

Coffee pot in patinated copper, solid silver applications, a frieze of sunflowers at the base of the neck, butterflies, herons, frogs and palm trees on the body. Ivory inlay on the handle.
Stamped Gorham Co, numbered E40 and P, with the Gorham Manufacturing Corporation anchor stamp.


Founded in the early 19th century by Jabez Gorham (1762-1869), the company became the Gorham Manufacturing Company in 1863. His son John took over the factory and expanded it in the 50s and 60s, when he travelled to England, recruiting numerous artists and drawing inspiration from oriental references. Gorham's copper line was produced for only a few years, between 1881 and 1885, making them rare objects.

The coffeepot we present is characteristic of this orientalist taste, very much in vogue in the second half of the 19th century. While the shape is borrowed from Oriental creations, the copper finish is reminiscent of Japanese lacquer, and decorative elements such as herons and frogs are also drawn from the decorative language of the Land of the Rising Sun, creating an interesting decorative syncretism.
Among the American metal objects presented at the Exposition des Beaux-Arts de Paris in 1884 was a teapot “made of copper, to which an oxide gives a very strange varnished red patina” (La Revue des Arts Décoratifs 4, 1884, 117).

A similar model is in the British Museum, London (number 1989,0703.1).