Waste Bowl

Overview Waste Bowl John Letelier Sr. American 1770–95 On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 774 This waste bowl is one piece of a four piece tea service (40.57.1–.4) owned by a Samuel Read, ancestor of Alice Read Oliphant Paul (see provenance). The initials “SMR” on each piece of the service are thought to be those of Samuel Read and his wife (M), whom we have yet to identify. The waste bowl, along with the teapot and creamer were made by John LeTelier Sr. (ca. 1740–1798) of Philadelphia, while the sugar bowl was made by Thomas Shields (1742–1819) of Philadelphia.

Two possibly scenarios account for the different makers. LeTelier and Shields were known to have a working relationship and it is possible that they collaborated on the production of this service. If a short-deadline commission was received by LeTelier it is possible that he looked to his fellow silversmith to help him accomplish the task on time, thus asking Shields to make the sugar bowl, or supply one from his stock to be engraved to match the rest of the set made by LeTelier. The possibility that a stock item was used would account for the visual difference and slightly older style of the sugar bowl.

A second scenario is that one or a few of the pieces were originally owned by Read and later pieces were added on in a second or multiple commissions. For example, if Read had owned the sugar bowl first and wished to update or add the rest of a tea service to match it, he may have commissioned LeTelier had Shields been unavailable, or vice versa. Matching sets of dining wares were not purchased as we would think them today. More often people would slowly buy their silver as they could afford it, adding pieces as they could. Resultantly, tea services that were used as a set did not always match. View more