Cake basket
1744–45
Medium
Silver
Dimensions
Overall: 11 1/2 × 11 3/8 × 14 3/8 in. (29.2 × 28.9 × 36.5 cm)
Classification
Metalwork-Silver
Culture
British, London
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of George D. Widener and Mrs. Eleanor Widener Dixon, 1958
Accession Number
58.7.21
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...
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...