BETH WEES: This two-handled bowl, which is marked by the eighteenth-century silversmith, Cornelius Kierstede, an American silversmith of Dutch descent, is, I have to admit, one of my favorite objects in the collection. It is a masterpiece of our colonial silver.

MORRISON HECKSCHER: Beth Wees, curator of American Decorative Arts here at the Met.

BETH WEES: And what's particularly interesting about this bowl to the first-time viewer are the beautiful flowers which ornament each of the six panels of the bowl.

MORRISON HECKSCHER: They’re all different and represent Dutch flowers – tulips for instance. The elegant handles form a C-curve and are called caryatid handles. The bowl dates from about 1700-1710. Around this time silversmiths of Dutch and English descent were beginning to inspire each others’ designs.

BETH WEES: So that we have a bowl of . . . great Dutch influence in the shape of the bowl, in the flowers, but, also, English silversmithing techniques in the cast caryatid handles and in the little rimmed foot.

MORRISON HECKSCHER: Its usage is also Dutch. Called a brandywine bowl, it was filled with raisins and brandy and used on ceremonial occasions. Guests would pass the bowl around, scooping up raisins with a silver spoon.

BETH WEES: It was particularly used at an event called the kindermaal, where neighborhood women would gather to welcome a newborn child, which I think is a lovely custom.