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Coffee Service

Designer Helen Hughes Dulany American
1934
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 903
This striking geometric coffee service is an important work in the short-lived but fascinating career of Helen Hughes Dulany. Based in Chicago, she established a factory to produce her industrially inspired metal and silverware designs in 1931, only to close it permanently in 1936. This set is particular for its dramatic flat planes of unornamented stainless steel and its introduction of Bakelite, an early plastic first used in automobile and electric industries for its heat resistant qualities, into domestic homeware.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Coffee Service
  • Designer: Helen Hughes Dulany (American, Bismarck, North Dakota 1885–1968 New York, New York)
  • Date: 1934
  • Medium: Stainless steel, Bakelite
  • Dimensions: a: Large Pot H. 5-3/8, W. 5-3/8, D. 5 inches (13.7 x 13.7 x 12.7 cm)
    b: Small Pot H. 5-3/8, W. 3-7/8, D.4 inches (13.7 x 9.8 x 10.2 cm)
    c, d: Sugar and Creamer H. 2- 5/8, W. 3-3/4, D. 1-7/8 inches (6.7 x 9.5 x 4.8 cm)
  • Classification: Metalwork
  • Credit Line: John C. Waddell Collection, Gift of John C. Waddell, 2001
  • Object Number: 2001.722.12a-d
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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