Gorham Manufacturing Company
Fruit Stand
1874
Physical Qualities
Silver, 20 x 25 in. (50.8 x 63.5 cm)
Credit Line
Purchase with exchange funds from Bequest of Margaret Anna Abell; Gift of Blanche Adler; Gift of Mrs. Edwin O. Anderson; Gift of Bertha V. Appold; Gift of Ellen Howard Bayard; Gift of Harrison T. Beacham; Gift of Mrs. Charles T. Berry; Gift of J.B. Randol Carroll; Bequest of Harriett Cohen Coale; Bequest of Jane James Cook; Gift of Mrs. Stuart Wilson Egerton, in Memory of Francis E. Pegram, Jr.; Gift of John M. Glenn; Gift of Mrs. J.H. Mason Knox, Jr., from the Estate of Julia Rogers; Gift of Mrs. Jesse Manion; Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Albert R. Miller, Jr.; Gift of Gertrude Rosenthal; Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard L. Steiner; Gift of The Aaron and Lillie Strauss Foundation, Inc.; Gift of Judge Irwin Untermyer
Object Number
1995.5
A pair of carefree cupids, one of them swinging, the other dancing, translated the frivolity of the 18th-century rococo style into the Victorian dining room of an obviously wealthy American client. The provenance of this stand for displaying hothouse fruits is not known, but it may have belonged to one of the numerous American tycoons who built summer “cottages” (actually enormous mansions) to be furnished in the Rococo Revival style in Newport, Rhode Island. The Gorham factory was located only 35 miles from Newport.
Inscribed: Stamped on bottom of stand: the three standard Gorham marks: lion passant facing right, anchor, Gothic G/STERLING/946 (design #)/G (date letter for 1874).
On View at the BMA
