Open Sugar Bowl with Carved Round Rosewood Handles

This open sugar bowl is shaped by its handles: carved round rosewood grips set against the silver body, the dark wood turned and fitted to the bright vessel. It dates to the First Design Period of 1931 to 1946.

The carved-rosewood handle is a defining feature of Spratling's hollowware, the tropical hardwood worked as a sculptural element rather than a plain fitting. On an open sugar bowl the paired handles frame the form and carry the wood-and-silver contrast that ran through his serving pieces.

Early hollowware with carved rosewood from the founding decade is among the more sought-after parts of Spratling's surviving output.