Jean E. Puiforcat
Coupe
1933
Scroll
Jean E. Puiforcat
Coupe
1933
Physical Qualities
Silver alloy, ivory, 5 7/8 H x 7 13/16 Diam. in. (14.9 x 19.8 cm.)
Credit Line
Purchase with exchange funds from Bequest of Philip B. Perlman and Gift in Memory of Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg, by her Children; purchased in Memory of Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg; and Straton Family Fund
Object Number
2003.46
This shape of this silver coupe, or bowl, is based on the golden ratio, a geometric formula for ideal proportions found in ancient Egyptian, Greek, and later European cultures. In 1933, its maker, French silversmith Jean Puiforcat, wrote “I continue to believe that the circle...is the ideal figure, and the curve, which relates to it, is more noble than the straight line.” Puiforcat’s application of mathematics to handmade silver was, in part, a competitive response to the mass quantities of machine-made, silverplated metalwork which entered the consumer market after World War I (1914–1918).
Image on label: Diagram for a coupe with golden ratio, 1938. Published in
Jean Puiforcat by Françoise de Bonneville. Paris: Editions du Regard, 1986
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 2003; Kimberley Dumousseau, San Francisco, California; commissioned by François Dumousseau, Château Plessis, Orvault, France
AMW Reinstallation 2014
American Wing Rotations 2020
American Wing Rotations 2021
American Wing Rotations 2022
Northwest Cone Rotations 2023
Cone Wing Rotations 2024
François de Bonneville, Jean Puiforcat, Editions du Regard, 1986, p. 71.
Markings: On base: "JEAN E. PUIFORCAT" On side: "P" in triangle, male profile stamped
