Cup plate
c. 1830
Medium
Pressed glass
Dimensions
Diam.: 10.5 cm (4 1/8 in.)
Classification
plate (general, dish)
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
83209
Art Historical Context
This delicate cup plate, crafted around 1830 from pressed glass, exemplifies everyday elegance in early 19th-century American homes. Measuring just 4 1/8 inches in diameter, it served a practical purpose: placed under teacups to protect wooden tabletops from heat and moisture during social gatherings or family meals. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Arts of the Americas department, this anonymous work highlights the unpretentious beauty of utilitarian objects. Pressed glass, a revolutionary technique of the era, involved forcing molten glass into intricate metal molds under pressure, ...