Butter Dish
Ball, Black & Company
Brooklyn Museum photograph
Object Label
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.
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. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Title
Butter Dish
Date
ca. 1850
Medium
Silver
Classification
Dimensions
4 3/4 x 5 7/8 x 5 7/8 in. (12.1 x 14.9 x 14.9 cm)
Markings
"Ball, Black & Co. N. York" [or their mark] "E & S" [man's head, lion passant & beehive]
Credit Line
Gift of S. B. Luyster, Jr.
Accession Number
32.472
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