Sugar bowl with cover
1779–80
Medium
Silver; glass
Dimensions
Overall: 4 3/4 × 7 3/8 × 4 1/8 in. (12.1 × 18.7 × 10.5 cm)
Classification
Metalwork-Silver
Culture
French, Paris
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Catherine D. Wentworth, 1948
Accession Number
48.187.63a–c
Art Historical Context
Crafted in Paris between 1779 and 1780, this elegant sugar bowl with cover by silversmith Antoine Bouiller exemplifies the refined luxury of late 18th-century French decorative arts Made of silver with a glass liner, it a compact 4 3/4 × 7 3/8 × 4 1/8 inches, perfect for the intimate tea tables of the French aristocracy during the waning years of the Ancien Régime. Bouiller, a registered Parisian maker, bore the city's guild mark, ensuring his work met the exacting standards of royal and elite patrons just before the Revolution upended such opulence. Silver sugar bowls like this were status s...