Sugar bowl
Unknown Artist
1820–45
Medium
Blown-molded glass
Dimensions
H. 6 in. (15.2 cm)
Classification
Sugar bowl
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of R. Thornton Wilson, 1939
Accession Number
39.18.7a, b
Art Historical Context
This elegant sugar bowl, crafted in America between 1820 and 1845, exemplifies the nation's burgeoning glassmaking industry during the early republic. Standing at 6 inches (15.2 cm) tall, it hails from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's American Wing, a gift from R. Thornton Wilson in 1939. As an everyday tableware item from an unknown artisan, it reflects the practical yet refined tastes of middle-class households in a time of expanding domestic manufacturing, post-War of 1812. The bowl's blown-molded glass technique was revolutionary for its era, allowing for intricate patterns and shapes to ...