Designer: Robert Venturi (1925 – 2018) & Denise Scott Brown (b. 1931)

Item: Village Tuscan Coffee Pot

Manufactured by: Swid Powell

Country of origin: Japan

Year made: Designed in 1985, manufactured in 1986

Materials: Stoneware with overglaze transfer-printed decoration

Dimensions: 10” high x 9” from tip of spout to end of handle.

Description: Here is a scarcely found Village coffee pot designed by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown in 1985 and only produced and retailed in the single 1986/87 season, and only in very small quantities.  The full Village service set came with the Tuscan tower coffee pot, Pantheon shaped tea pot, a Peasants Hut lidded sugar, and Palazzo shaped creamer.  Even finding individual pieces from this set is a challenge due to their scarcity. Although shoppers may occasionally find an example on an internet auction site for about $500, every such example we have seen on such sites has crazing to the glaze, thus making this example a real scarcity.

The original sketches for the coffee pot is published in the Tapert book, as are photos of the complete set.  Examples of this set can be found in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Yale University Art Gallery and others. The Yale University Art Gallery also has the original prototypes and Venturi’s design drawings. 

Condition: Excellent.  It appears unused, as there is zero crazing in the glaze as we usually find with pieces from this set.  The brown on the bottom outside edge is from sitting on a shelf, probably displayed on a dark brown wood surface. The underside of the lid has a minute fleabite on the inner edge as shown. We have seen one other with this exact sized and located dimple which was glazed over, so we are unsure if this occurred when being removed from the kiln or was simply the result of clumsy handling. Either way, it is in our humble opinion an immaterial issue.

References: Tapert, Annette. SWID POWELL: Objects by Architects, Rizzoli, 1990; various wid Powell trade catalogs.