Toleware Coffee Pot c. 1938

Edward Loper made this watercolor of a toleware coffee pot. Before industrialization, decorative painting on household objects was common. This craft, known as toleware, became particularly popular in the United States, including in Pennsylvania where Loper was born. The image’s visual codes and cultural references offer a glimpse into this artisanal past. The presence of a coffee pot in the image reflects the important role that commodity played in the trade networks of early America. Coffee culture was a social leveler. Note, though, that coffee pots were also tools of domestic labor, and the painting can be understood in relation to the gendered division of household work. As historians, we can use a wide variety of sources such as census records, trade inventories, and even cookbooks to better understand the social life of objects and their impact on the lives of people. The meaning of art is contingent on the social and institutional context.