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Primary sourceArtifact1791

Tea Urn

Paul Revere · 1791

A silver tea urn made by Paul Revere in 1791, showing his postwar work as a silversmith for wealthy Boston clients.

Revere crafted this urn, showing his postwar career as a master silversmith serving elite Boston society.

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Photograph of a tall silver tea urn with a pineapple-shaped finial on its domed lid, two curved scroll handles, a footed square base with claw feet, an ivory spigot, and engraved swags and a central oval monogram on the body.
Paul Revere, Tea Urn, 1791. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

About this source

What it is

This is a silver tea urn made by Paul Revere in 1791, now held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is crafted in the neoclassical Federal style popular in the early United States.

The urn has a domed lid topped with a pineapple-shaped finial, scroll handles, a footed square base with claw feet, an ivory spigot, and engraved decoration with a central monogram.

Why it matters

After the Revolution, Revere returned to his trade as a silversmith, producing fine objects like this urn for wealthy clients in the new nation. It shows a different side of his life—not as a political activist or messenger, but as a skilled craftsman adapting to new fashions and a changing economy.

Look closer

  • What details on the urn suggest it was made for a wealthy household?
  • How does this object differ from the political images Revere made earlier in his career?
  • What might owning such an object have said about its owner's social status?

This artifact is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Paul Revere on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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