Sugar bowl

Pierre Benardié (or Berardier)

1775–81 · Silver; glass · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Sugar came to be used in Europe with the newly imported beverages as tea, coffee, and chocolate. Sugar bowls were often fashioned as part of a silver service. Following English examples, French sugar bowls were shaped like an openwork basket with a blue glass liner during the 1770s and 1780s. Resting on four hoof feet, the bowl has two shaped handles and a knob in the shape of strawberries, most likely a reference to the sweetness of this summer fruit. Daughter of one of the founders of the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, Catherine D. Wentworth (1865–1948) was an art student and painter who lived in France for thirty years. She became one of the most important American collectors of eighteenth-century French silver and on her death in 1948 bequeathed part of her significant collection of silver, gold boxes, French furniture, and textiles to the Metropolitan Museum. The collection is particularly strong in domestic silver, as is illustrated by this sugar bowl.

Artist

Pierre Benardié (or Berardier)

Date

1775–81

Medium

Silver; glass

Culture

French, Lyons

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Bequest of Catherine D. Wentworth, 1948