See more objects with the tag dining, coffee/tea drinking, globular, vessel, coffee.

Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

1927

  • Work on this object began.

1937

  • Work on this object ended.

2017

2025

  • You found it!

Tea Urn

This is a tea urn. It was manufactured by International Silver Company. It is dated ca. 1932–33. Its medium is silverplate.

Eliel Saarinen's tea urn for the Wilcox Silver Plate Company required a special machine to create its perfectly spherical form.

It is credited Lent by Dallas Museum of Art, The Patsy Lacy Griffith Collection, gift of Patsy Lacy Griffith by exchange, General Acquisitions Fund, and gift of Susan and Eric Saarinen, 2012.54.A-C.

  • Coffee Urn (USA)
  • glass, metal, wood.
  • Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William C. Smith.
  • 1995-123-1-a/g

Our curators have highlighted 3 objects that are related to this one.

  • Coffee Maker
  • chrome-plated metal, enamel.
  • Museum purchase from Decorative Arts Association Acquisition Fund.
  • 1993-150-44-b,c
  • Planter (USA)
  • aluminum, wood.
  • Gift of Paul F. Walter.
  • 1991-30-2

Its dimensions are

36.83 x 19.685 cm ( 14 1/2 x 7 3/4 in.)

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s.

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/907130197/ |title=Tea Urn |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=6 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>