Chocolate pot 1708 - 1709

This chocolate pot was made by Nathaniel Lock, a London silversmith active around 1700. It is made of silver, with a wooden handle, and rests on three cast feet in the shape of stylized lions. The pot speaks volumes about the global economy of the time. Silver mining was a brutal business, largely enabled by enslaved labor in South America. The wood for the handle may well have come from colonial holdings, too. As for the chocolate itself – well, that was the product of plantations, also dependent on slavery. Lock’s skill as a silversmith is obvious in the pot’s gleaming surface and elegant form. Yet, we should also remember the many hands involved in the production of such an object, from the miners and plantation workers to the merchants and traders who brought the raw materials to London. This pot is not just a testament to Lock’s artistry, but a reminder of the complex and often exploitative systems of labor that underpinned the luxury goods of the 18th century.