Covered Sugar Bowl
Artist unknown
1835–55
Medium
Blown glass
Dimensions
21.4 × 10.8 cm (8 7/16 × 4 1/4 in.)
Classification
sugar bowl
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
158474
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Hand-blown by a skilled glassworker who was familiar with the ornamental potential of fine, colorless glassware, this piece is unusual in its use of unrefined bright green glass, which was typically employed to make liquor bottles, pharmaceutical vials, and other utilitarian wares. The work is both elegantly proportioned and cleverly conceived; the swirled gadrooning on the body echoes that on the cover, and when the cover is inverted, it echoes the shape of the bowl.