Cake basket

Art Historical Context

This elegant cake basket, crafted by renowned British silversmith de Lamerie in between 1744 and 1745, exemplifies the opulence of mid-18th-century decorative arts. Measuring 11½ × 11⅜ × 14⅜ inches, this silver masterpiece was designed as a luxurious serving vessel for lavish banquets, where such pieces showcased the host's wealth and refined taste. De Lamerie, a Huguenot émigré of French descent, rose to prominence as one of England's finest goldsmiths, supplying aristocracy and royalty with intricate tableware during the Rococo era's flourish. The medium of silver was ideal for de Lamerie's virtuosic techniques, including chasing, embossing, and piercing, which allowed for delicate, flowing forms inspired by natural motifs and asymmetry—hallmarks of the Rococo style. Far from mere utility, these baskets elevated everyday indulgences like cake into displays of artistry, reflecting Britain's growing prosperity and cultural exchange with continental Europe. Today, this basket graces the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, a generous 1958 gift from George D. Widener and Mrs. Eleanor Widener Dixon. It invites us to appreciate the silversmith's craft as a bridge between function, beauty, and social status in Georgian England.

About the Artist

Paul de Lamerie · 1688–1751

Paul de Lamerie was born on April 9, 1688, in 's-Hertogenbosch in the Dutch Republic, the son of Paul Souchay de la Merie, a French Huguenot nobleman who had fled France following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 and subsequently served as an officer under William III of Orange. The family settled in London by 1691, and young Paul grew up in a community of skilled Huguenot craftsmen w...