On View
Not on viewSugar bowl
Date1840-1850
Terms
- Sugar Bowls
- Ceramic
- Staffordshire
Dimensions11.42 × 8.25 × 5.71 cm (4 1/2 × 3 1/4 × 2 1/4 in.)
Credit LineGift of Mrs. Thomas Todd, Sr. (1959)
Object numberC276
DescriptionCovered sugar bowl with cover. Glazed earthenware with silver luster decoration. Rectangular with rounded corners.
The sugar bowl is Staffordshire and covered with a glaze (now called silver luster) that included platinum among its ingredients and was fired in a reduction kiln. Both the glaze and the forms mimic silver; these were likely coupled with a silver luster teapot. Examples of fancy ware, a pervasive taste in America that was readily exploited by manufacturers of all manner of goods.
Only ten pieces of tableware survive from the much more extensive collection of plates, bowls, glasses, and flatware that Cynthia Thoreau would have used to furnish her table. The Thoreau household generally had one or more boarders in addition to the family of six. Prudence Ward and her daughter were boarders with the Thoreaus; Cynthia Thoreau's sister Louisa lived with them for more than thirty years. Some of John and Henry's students boarded when their school was in operation, and there were other short-term boarders as well. Dinners for ten or more must have been a regular occurrence.
The sugar bowl is Staffordshire and covered with a glaze (now called silver luster) that included platinum among its ingredients and was fired in a reduction kiln. Both the glaze and the forms mimic silver; these were likely coupled with a silver luster teapot. Examples of fancy ware, a pervasive taste in America that was readily exploited by manufacturers of all manner of goods.
Only ten pieces of tableware survive from the much more extensive collection of plates, bowls, glasses, and flatware that Cynthia Thoreau would have used to furnish her table. The Thoreau household generally had one or more boarders in addition to the family of six. Prudence Ward and her daughter were boarders with the Thoreaus; Cynthia Thoreau's sister Louisa lived with them for more than thirty years. Some of John and Henry's students boarded when their school was in operation, and there were other short-term boarders as well. Dinners for ten or more must have been a regular occurrence.
Collections
- Henry David Thoreau Collection
