1750-1753

Coffeepot

Philip Syng, Jr., was well acquainted with the elaborate chased and repoussé work coming out of the best London shops, and this coffeepot achieves that high level of quality--perhaps because Syng employed London-trained engravers such as Laurence Hubert. Hubert may have laid out the design on the pot, after which Syng would have "worked" the silver until he achieved the effect seen here: almost three-dimensional flowers and garlands.

Joseph Galloway, who commissioned this coffeepot, was a native of Maryland. He entered Philadelphia politics in 1757 and rose quickly to a position of power. In 1776, he choose to remain loyal to the British Crown and returned to England, where he died in 1803. The engraved crest was added to the side of the coffeepot in 1890, when descendants of Galloway were married in Scotland.