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Sugar bowl
Sugar bowl

Sugar bowl

W. G. Forbes (died in 1796)
about 1800
Object PlaceNew York, New York, United States
Medium/TechniqueSilver
DimensionsOverall: 18.2 x 16.5 x 10.5 cm (7 3/16 x 6 1/2 x 4 1/8 in.)
Credit LineGift of Mrs. James Stuart Smith
Accession number63.635a-b
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsSilver hollowware
Collections
Description

With its ring handles and refined form, this sugar bowl was made by William Garrett Forbes, patriarch of a distinguished New York City silversmithing family. It represents one of the successful variations on the form produced during the federal period. As Deborah Dependahl Waters has pointed out, the lower profile and gentle curves of this style of bowl, also seen on a closely related three-piece tea set in the collection of the Museum of the City of New York, represent a slightly later evolution of the more vertical, geometric forms of a few years earlier.

This text has been adapted from "Silver of the Americas, 1600-2000," edited by Jeannine Falino and Gerald W.R. Ward, published in 2008 by the MFA. Complete references can be found in that publication.

Inscriptions"W" engraved inside bowl; "13" scratched on base. Engraved on side within an ellipse with a crest of a griffen on a torse, above the motto "EN DIE EST TOUT"; the ellipse on the other side is unengravedProvenanceHistory unknown prior to its gift by Mrs. James Stuart Smith of North Chatham, Massachusetts.