Covered Sugar Bowl
1 of 5
Object Label
At the time this sugar bowl was made, it was thought that blue would repel ants and preserve the sugar.
Caption
American. Covered Sugar Bowl, 18th century. Glass, 6 1/2 x 4 1/4 in. (16.5 x 10.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 40.9a-b. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 40.9a-b.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Culture
Title
Covered Sugar Bowl
Date
18th century
Medium
Glass
Classification
Dimensions
6 1/2 x 4 1/4 in. (16.5 x 10.8 cm)
Credit Line
Dick S. Ramsay Fund
Accession Number
40.9a-b
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
Frequent Art Questions
Do you know why it was thought that blue would repel ants and preserve sugar?
It was believed that the color itself was unpleasant for ants and would keep they from climbing on the glass. In the 18th century, sugar was an expensive luxury good, so people were interested in ways to keep pests away!
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