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Butter Dish

Decorative Arts and Design

These two silver dishes, made in New York a generation apart, were both designed to serve butter at the dining table in an upper-middle-class household. Although both have highly decorated surfaces, the Tiffany dish appears more modern to the contemporary eye. This is due to the narrative linear decoration and the simple, bold geometry of the silhouette, both inspired by the Aesthetic Movement of the 1870s and 1880s, which looked to the arts of Japan.
MEDIUM Silver
DATES ca. 1850
DIMENSIONS 4 3/4 x 5 7/8 x 5 7/8 in. (12.1 x 14.9 x 14.9 cm)  (show scale)
MARKINGS "Ball, Black & Co. N. York" [or their mark] "E & S" [man's head, lion passant & beehive]
ACCESSION NUMBER 32.472
CREDIT LINE Gift of S. B. Luyster, Jr.
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Ball, Black & Company (American, 1851–1876). Butter Dish, ca. 1850. Silver, 4 3/4 x 5 7/8 x 5 7/8 in. (12.1 x 14.9 x 14.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of S. B. Luyster, Jr., 32.472. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.472_acetate_bw.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 32.472_acetate_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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Ball, Black & Company (American, 1851–1876). <em>Butter Dish</em>, ca. 1850. Silver, 4 3/4 x 5 7/8 x 5 7/8 in. (12.1 x 14.9 x 14.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of S. B. Luyster, Jr., 32.472. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.472_acetate_bw.jpg)