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Sugar bowl and sifter spoon: M.2 & A-1998

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Object information

Current Location: In storage

Titles

Sugar bowl and sifter spoon

Maker(s)

Silversmiths: Hukin & Heath
Silversmith: Heath, John Thomas
Middleton, John Hartshorne
Designer: Dresser, Christopher (Perhaps)

Entities

Categories

Description

Silver, parcel-gilt, chased, engraved; the bowl and the sugar sifter spoon in the form of a lotus flower

Silver, parcel-gilt, chased and engraved. The bowl is in the form of a lotus flower with a lightly gilt interior, supported by a bent tubular stem, and two curled leaves with engraved veins and tubular stems branching out to right and left from beside the main stem. One leaf is completely curled, the other half open. The sifter spoon has a twig-shaped handle with forked terminal. It's bowl is of the same lotus flower form as the sugar bowl and it also lightly gilt; it is pierced with a pattern of lozenges and roundels.

Notes

History note: Fine Art Society, 148 Bond Street, London, W1Y 0JT

Legal notes

Purchased with the Rylands Fund

Place(s) associated

  • Birmingham ⪼ England

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bought (1998-03-02) by Fine Art Society

Dating

19th Century, Late#
Victoria I
1884 CE - 1885 CE

Note

A talented and versatile designer, Dresser designed with mass production in mind, believing that beautiful, functional objects should be within reach of most people. Therefore, unlike other makers who believed in the power of the handmade, Dresser thought it necessary to work with industrial manufacturers and use machines, to disseminate ‘good’ design as cheaply and therefore as widely as possible. His trips to Japan inspired a subsequent clean­cut, linear style that he applied to a range of media, creating objects that proved to be some of the most radical and influential of the final decades of the nineteenth century. His sleek and geometric metalwork anticipated modernism, combining a stark and attractive functionality for users with an emphasis on form and silhouette rather than surface decoration, which allowed it to be made more easily by various manufacturers, including those seen here. This sugar basin and its spoon were made by the firm of Hukin & Heath, which had been founded in 1855 by Jonathan Wilson Hukin and John Thomas Heath. Hukin retired in 1881 and was replaced by John Hartshorne Middleton. The attribution of the design to Christopher Dresser is uncertain.

School or Style

Arts and Crafts (movement)

Components of the work

Decoration composed of gold
Bowl Height 8.1 cm Weight 220 g Width 12.4 cm
Spoon Length 14.9 cm Weight 17 dwt Weight 27 g

Materials used in production

Silver

Inscription or legends present

Inscription present: 'JWH' over 'JTH' in a quatrefoil cartouche

  • Location: Side of one leaf and spoon's stem
  • Method of creation: Struck
  • Type: Maker's mark

Inscription present: lion passant

  • Location: Side of one leaf and spoon's stem
  • Method of creation: Struck
  • Type: Hallmark

Inscription present: leopard's head

  • Location: Side of one leaf and spoon's stem
  • Method of creation: Struck
  • Type: Hallmark
  • Text: I
  • Location: Side of one leaf and spoon's stem
  • Method of creation: Struck
  • Type: Hallmark
  • Text: monarch's head
  • Location: Side of one leaf and on spoon's stem
  • Method of creation: Struck
  • Type: Duty mark

References and bibliographic entries

Related exhibitions

Identification numbers

Accession number: M.2 & A-1998
Primary reference Number: 133659
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Wednesday 22 November 2023 Last processed: Friday 8 December 2023

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Sugar bowl and sifter spoon" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/133659 Accessed: 2024-04-23 21:38:26

Citation for Wikipedia

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{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/133659 |title=Sugar bowl and sifter spoon |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-04-23 21:38:26|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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