Basket
Unknown Artist
1880–90
Medium
Pressed purple marble glass
Dimensions
2 3/8 x 4 5/8 in. (6 x 11.7 cm)
Classification
Basket
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Emily Winthrop Miles, 1946
Accession Number
46.140.668
Art Historical Context
Nestled in The American Wing of the Metropolitan of Art, this delicate "Basket" (1880–90) exemplifies ingenuity of late 19th-century Americanmaking. Crafted from pressed purple marble glass, it measures just 2 3/8 x 4 5/8 inches, making it a petite decorative treasure likely intended for a Victorian parlor tabletop—perhaps holding candies, trinkets, or sewing notions. The unknown artist's work captures the era's fascination with affordable luxury, gifted to the Museum by Mrs. Emily Win Miles in 1946. Pressed glass, a revolutionary technique popularized in America during the Gilded Age, involv...