Basin
Not on view
The unusually strong curvilinear outline of this basin may suggest that it was once part of a toilet service and intended for use either as a shaving bowl or for hairdressing.
The armorial engraved in the well is similar to that on a silver ewer also from the Wentworth collection (48.187.140), made by the same unidentified silversmith, (I.P) possibly in Avignon.
Daughter of one of the founders of the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, Catherine D. Wentworth (1865–1948) was an art student and painter who lived in France for thirty years. She became one of the most important American collectors of eighteenth-century French silver and on her death in 1948 bequeathed part of her significant collection of silver, gold boxes, French furniture and textiles to the Metropolitan Museum. The collection is particularly strong in domestic silver, much of it provincial, and includes a number of rare early pieces.
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.