An Art Nouveau silver lidded sugar box

Item number: 60115

An important Art Nouveau 800 silver lidded sugar box,
Heilbronn circa 1900 designed by Carl Stock for Bruckmann & Söhne

Chest-shaped form with sloping sides and flared feet. The front and back showing by a woman’s face to the centre with half-closed eyes and flowing hair, flanked on both sides by floral ornamentation on a matted background. The sides decorated with dragonflies in relief. The lid crowned by a sculptural handle as two tendrils and subdivided by tendril work in relief. Gilded interior.

14 cm / 5.51″ length, 10.6 cm / 4.17″ width, 7.4 cm / 2.91″ tall to the rim, 10.1 cm / 3.97″ tall to the handle; 375.9 g / 12.08 oz

Silver by Bruckmann & Söhne at the World Exhibition in Paris 1900

This lidded box was first produced as a sugar box in 1898 and presented to the wider public at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900. The Paris World’s Fair was of great importance for the business development of Bruckmann & Söhne. The Heilbronn silverware factory presented selected works there to an international audience, such as this sugar bowl as well as the famous silver cutlery #2400, which today therefore has the byname “Iris World’s Fair” among collectors. The design of this lidded sugar box skilfully combines French stylistic tendencies – to be seen in the woman’s face with flowing hair and the dragonfly decoration – with German stylistic tendencies such as the trapezoidal, angular design which goes back to the chests of the German Renaissance. The sugar bowl was only produced in a small number in silver and met with general interest at the World’s Fair due to its outstandingly beautiful design. The object is therefore one of the few exhibits that were honoured with an illustration on p. 147 of a special edition of the leading journal for contemporary art at the time, Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration [German Art and decoration], on the occasion of the Paris World Exhibition.
This sugar box is also illustrated in: Reinhard Sänger (et al.) “Silber aus Heilbron für die Welt – P.Bruckmann & Söhne (1805 – 1973)”, exhibition cat. of the Städtische Museen Heilbronn, Heilbronn 2002. p. 131.
The german sculptor, designer and medallist Carl Stock was of special importance for Bruckmann & Söhne as he created several designs which established the good reputation of this silversmithy also internationally.