The factory of John Frederick Amelung produced a variety of sample molded utilitarian wares (see B.59.80) and elaborately engraved pieces. While more recently used as a bowl, this object was originally the lid of a sugar bowl. The scar on its base indicates where the finial or handle was once attached. Even in its fragmentary state, the piece, with its fine rococo engraving and brilliant amethyst color, conveys a sense of the finest of the Amelung products.

Related examples: The famous CG presentation sugar bowl at Winterthur has similar color and rococo engraving on its lid (Palmer 1993, p. 199, no. 158); closely related engraving on a goblet at the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York (Lanmon et al. 1990, p. 70, no. 13).

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.