Last updated: August 27, 2025
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Pepper-Pot: A Scene in the Philadelphia Market, painting by John Lewis Krimmel - 1811
Courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Title: Pepper-Pot: A Scene in the Philadelphia Market, painting by John Lewis Krimmel - 1811
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Object Information: Oil on canvas painting, 19 1/2 x 15 1/2 inches (49.5 x 39.4 cm) Framed: 24 1/2 × 20 1/2 inches (62.2 × 52.1 cm)
Repository: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 125th Anniversary Acquisition. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edward B. Leisenring, Jr., 2001. Accession Number: 2001-196-1. https://www.philamuseum.org/collection/object/134441.
Description:
In 1811, German-born painter John Lewis Krimmel debuted Pepper-Pot: A Scene in the Philadelphia Market, a painting that features a free African American woman selling pepper pot soup. She is portrayed wearing a pale blue empire style dress with black trim, a red handkerchief around her neck, barefoot and bare-headed, sitting inside a brick structure next to a large silver pot of soup, with bowls and spoons for serving.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, Black women street vendors cooked and sold food to support themselves financially. The presense of pepper pot soup on the streets of eastern US cities traces a historical path shaped by the transatlantic slave trade: rooted in West African culinary traditions, transformed through Caribbean influences, and brought to cities like Philadelphia.
The dish is even found in Revolutionary War legends, believed to have sustained General George Washington and his troops at Valley Forge, during the winter of 1777—thanks in part to the presence of enslaved cooks, Isaac and Hannah Till, who were there with him.
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Object Information: Oil on canvas painting, 19 1/2 x 15 1/2 inches (49.5 x 39.4 cm) Framed: 24 1/2 × 20 1/2 inches (62.2 × 52.1 cm)
Repository: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 125th Anniversary Acquisition. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edward B. Leisenring, Jr., 2001. Accession Number: 2001-196-1. https://www.philamuseum.org/collection/object/134441.
Description:
In 1811, German-born painter John Lewis Krimmel debuted Pepper-Pot: A Scene in the Philadelphia Market, a painting that features a free African American woman selling pepper pot soup. She is portrayed wearing a pale blue empire style dress with black trim, a red handkerchief around her neck, barefoot and bare-headed, sitting inside a brick structure next to a large silver pot of soup, with bowls and spoons for serving.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, Black women street vendors cooked and sold food to support themselves financially. The presense of pepper pot soup on the streets of eastern US cities traces a historical path shaped by the transatlantic slave trade: rooted in West African culinary traditions, transformed through Caribbean influences, and brought to cities like Philadelphia.
The dish is even found in Revolutionary War legends, believed to have sustained General George Washington and his troops at Valley Forge, during the winter of 1777—thanks in part to the presence of enslaved cooks, Isaac and Hannah Till, who were there with him.