Creamer

Art Historical Context

This delicate creamer, crafted by Challinor, Taylor and Company between 1870 and 1890, exemplifies the ingenuity of late 19th-century Americanmaking. Made of pressed purple marble glass—a technique where molten glass is into intricate molds—this small pitcher (5 1/16 inches high, 4 inches in diameter mimics the veined luxury of natural marble at an affordable price. The swirling purple hues create a mesmerizing, stone-like effect, perfect for cream in middle-class Victorian households. Pressed glass revolutionized decorative arts during the Gilded Age, enabling mass production of elegant tableware that rivaled pricier hand-cut crystal. Challinor, Taylor and Company, a prolific firm, specialized in such innovative patterns, blending industrial precision with artistic flair. Housed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's American Wing as a gift from Mrs. Emily Winthrop Miles in 1946, this piece reflects America's growing fascination with ornate domestic objects, symbolizing both everyday refinement and the era's manufacturing prowess. Visitors will appreciate how this unassuming creamer captures the democratization of beauty—turning ordinary tea time into a touch of opulence.

About the Artist

Challinor, Taylor and Company · 1866–1891

Challinor, Taylor and Company was an American pressed glass manufacturer founded in 1866 and based in Tarentum, Pennsylvania, a community along the Allegheny River that was home to several of the nineteenth century's most innovative glassmakers. The firm operated until 1891, when it was absorbed into the United States Glass Company as Factory C — part of the great industrial consolidation that res...