Sugar Bowl

Object Label
The form of nearly contemporary Japanese ceramic teapots directly inspired this surprisingly modern-looking, intimate tea set. Silverplate, made by electroytically bonding silver particles to base metals, was an inexpensive alternative to costly silver. Because it was inexpensive, silverplate companies often produced adventurous designs that were highly responsive to the latest styles. Here the shape exemplifies the Japanese craze of the late 1870s and 1880s, and the linear, two-dimensional incised floral decoration is rendered in the so-called Eastlake, or Reform, style imported from England at the same time.
Caption
James W. Tufts 1875–ca. 1914. Sugar Bowl, ca. 1880. Silver-plate on white metal, 4 x 5 1/4 x 3 3/8 in. (10.2 x 13.3 x 8.6cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by Roy Zuckerberg, 1990.39.3a-b. Creative Commons-BY
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Maker
Title
Sugar Bowl
Date
ca. 1880
Geography
Place manufactured: Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Medium
Silver-plate on white metal
Classification
Dimensions
4 x 5 1/4 x 3 3/8 in. (10.2 x 13.3 x 8.6cm)
Signatures
no signature
Inscriptions
no inscriptions
Markings
Impressed on bottom: "JAMES W. TUFTS / BOSTON / [four-pointed star enclosing 'T'] / WARRENTED / TRIPLE PLATE / 1900."
Credit Line
Purchased with funds given by Roy Zuckerberg
Accession Number
1990.39.3a-b
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
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