Sugar bowl

Unknown Artist

ca. 1775–85

Sugar bowl by Unknown Artist

Medium

Sheffield plate

Dimensions

6 3/8 × 4 3/4 in. (16.2 × 12.1 cm)

Classification

Metalwork-Silverplate

Culture

British, Sheffield

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Museum

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Credit

Rogers Fund, 1910

Accession Number

10.16.16a, b

Art Historical Context

This elegant sugar bowl, crafted around 1775–85 in Sheffield, England, the ingenuity of British metalworking during the late Georgian era. Measuring a compact 6 3/8 × 4 3/4 inches, it was made using Sheffield plate—a revolutionary technique where sheets of copper were fused with silver to mimic the luster of solid silver at a fraction of the cost. Developed in Sheffield in the mid-18th, this method democratized luxury tableware, allowing middle-class households to enjoy refined domestic silver without the expense of hallmarked sterling. Sheffield plate objects like this sugar bowl were integr...

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