Sugar Bowl

James W. Tufts

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

Title

Sugar Bowl

Date

ca. 1880

Geography

Place manufactured: Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Medium

Silver-plate on white metal

Classification

Food/Drink

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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