Free account. We'll finish the save once you're in. Already a member? Sign in.
A silver liqueur cup raised on a base of azur malachite, this piece sets a vessel of polished metal on a block of blue-green stone, the kind of material contrast that runs through Spratling's table objects. Malachite was among the semi-precious materials he worked with, figuring in the 200 models he prepared for the Alaska project, where blue malachite appeared in his "North Star" variations (Morrill, p. 66).
Using the stone as a structural base rather than a set cabochon is a sculptural choice, the silver cup lifted on color. It belongs to the small hollowware in which Spratling treated stone and metal as equal partners.
The cup is recorded in Phyllis M. Goddard's Spratling Silver: A Field Guide. Malachite-based hollowware of this kind comes to market only occasionally.
See something wrong with this record? Suggest a correction and the piece details fill in automatically.
