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Sugar bowl

1786
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 553
Janety appears to have been the first European silversmith to work in platinum, newly available to silversmiths in the 1780s. It had recently been discovered that arsenic lowered the melting point of platinum, allowing it to be cast and then worked. The new medium also had the advantage of not tarnishing. This sugar bowl appears to be the only extant work in platinum by Janety. The crispness of the details, seen in the relief of the satyr and nymph and in the various decorative motifs, reflects his technical mastery of the medium.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Sugar bowl
  • Maker: Marc-Etienne Janety (French, 1739–1820, master 1777)
  • Date: 1786
  • Culture: French, Paris
  • Medium: Platinum, blue glass
  • Dimensions: 5 1/4 × 7 in. (13.3 × 17.8 cm)
  • Classification: Metalwork-Gold and Platinum
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. A.L. Garbat, Manya Garbat Starr and Julian A. Garbat, by exchange, and Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1974
  • Object Number: 1974.164a–c
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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