2005.51.2.A-B, Lebolt & Co., Tea or coffee service, tea caddy, c. 1915

This tea caddy is part of an elegantly refined tea service. With its subtly hammered panels, the tea service ranks among the finest examples of American silver in the Arts & Crafts aesthetic. The inclusion of a tea caddy in the set suggests the tall pot (2005.51.3), normally a coffee pot form, may have been pressed into duty serving alternately coffee or tea. The geometrically structured bodies in the set, which recall similarly faceted modernist German and Austrian metalware, reflect Lebolt’s attempt to attract attention in the small but highly competitive market for progressive silver in Chicago. Strikingly modern yet retaining the sensibilities of handcrafted objects emblematic of the Arts & Crafts movement, the tea service is a rare example of innovative tablewares from the period around World War I, an increasingly conservative era in American design. 

Label text (2005.51.1-5.A-B), North Gallery, current as of June 2015.

TMS Updates - Geo XRefs - place of origin, manufactured in and business location for 2005.51.1-5.A-B   - JBA 10/16/2017

Until 2005: Lauren Stanley Gallery (Stanley J. Szaro), New York, New York [1]

From 2005: Dallas Museum of Art, purchased from the above [1]

[1] See Lauren Stanley Gallery invoice (dated May 16, 2005, copy in Collections Records Object File)