Skip to main content
Five-Piece Tea Service: Sugar Bowl
Five-Piece Tea Service: Sugar Bowl
Five-Piece Tea Service: Sugar Bowl

Five-Piece Tea Service: Sugar Bowl

Maker (German)
Datecirca 1902 - 1904
MediumHand-wrought silver
DimensionsHeight: 3 7/16 in. (8.7 cm)
Credit LineBequest of Louise H. Landau
Object number2003.75d
Object TypeMetalwork
On View
Not on view
Manufactured around 1902–04 by the German company of Gerhardi & Co, this hand-wrought silver service exemplifies the attention to design expressed in the handcrafted aesthetic of German Jugendstil. This aesthetic is the German variation of French and Belgian Art Nouveau that developed as a major creative force in Vienna and emphasized the authenticity of craftsmanship. Rejecting the practice of faithfully copying past European and Asian styles, many Jugendstil artists and designers proposed a direct and immediate relationship with nature. In keeping with this ideal, organic, curvilinear shapes and stylized plant forms decorate the smooth surfaces of this silver tea service. Jugendstil artists, architects, and designers cultivated the fine and applied arts, also known as the functional or decorative arts, as a way to project creative expression into everyday living and working spaces and advance their larger purpose—to unify art and life.
While this tea and coffee set has not been firmly attributed to the leading German Jugendstil designer Peter Behrens (1868–1940), who worked for Gerhardi & Co., the quality of the design makes it a notable example of German Jugendstil stylized plant forms and linear aesthetics.
Five-Piece Tea Service: Tea Pot
Gerhardi & Co.
circa 1902 - 1904
Five-Piece Tea Service: Coffee Pot
Gerhardi & Co.
circa 1902 - 1904
Five-Piece Tea Service: Creamer
Gerhardi & Co.
circa 1902 - 1904
Five-Piece Tea Service: Tray
Gerhardi & Co.
circa 1902 - 1904
Five-Piece Tea Service
Gerhardi & Co.
circa 1902 - 1904
Marianne Brandt
1924 (design, manufactured at the Weimar Bauhaus in 1924 or 1925 or at the Dessa
Tea Service: Tea Infuser (Pot), Creamer, Sugar Bowl, and Tray
Marianne Brandt
1924 (design, manufactured at the Weimar Bauhaus in 1924 or 1925 or at the Dessa
Tea Service: Tea Infuser (Pot)
Marianne Brandt
1924 (design, manufactured at the Bauhaus between 1924 and 1929)