Coffee urn with stand and burner 1806

This is a silver coffee urn with stand and burner made by Nathanael Teuter. Looking at this object, we are immediately reminded of the culture of coffee consumption in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Coffee houses were important social spaces for the exchange of ideas, as well as economic and political transactions. Silver objects such as this one were not just functional, but powerful signifiers of status, taste, and material wealth. The Neo-classical design is typical of the period, with clean lines. But it also reflects a broader cultural shift, as design academies began to exert control over artistic production. The taste for luxury goods stimulated global trade. To understand the role of objects like this, we can study probate inventories, household accounts, and other historical documents. In this way, we can come to appreciate how meaning is not just located in the object itself, but in the complex web of social and economic relations of which it was a part.