Sugar bowl

Designer Mario Bellini Italian
Manufacturer Cleto Munari Italian
1980
Not on view
Although trained as an architect, Bellini is known less for his buildings than for his product designs; he is one of the most influential Italian designers working today. This sugar bowl, part of a tea and coffee service prototype for the silversmith Cleto Munari, reveals Bellini's strong architectural background. All elements of the prototype are reduced to minimal geometry: squares, circles, cylinders, a hemisphere. The abstract severity of the individual pieces is offset by the richness of the materials, and the overall effect is monumental. The tea- and coffeepots, set within palisades of rose-quartz columns, call to mind the peristyles of circular Roman temples. Postmodernist designers customarily refer to a classical past through the use of historical detail. Bellini, however, suggests the discipline of classical architecture through form alone, without using any sort of conventional ornament. For more information on the individual pieces, refer to MMA 1990.96.2, MMA 1990.96.3ab, and 1990.91.4ab.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Sugar bowl
  • Designer: Mario Bellini (Italian, born Milan, 1935)
  • Manufacturer: Cleto Munari (Italian, born Gorizia 1930)
  • Date: 1980
  • Medium: Silverplate and rose quartz
  • Dimensions: 4 5/8 × 4 5/8 × 2 1/2 in. (11.7 × 11.7 × 6.4 cm)
  • Classification: Metalwork-Silver
  • Credit Line: Gift of Cleto Munari, 1990
  • Object Number: 1990.96.1
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

More Artwork

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.