posted 03-26-2001 08:56 AM            

Just a couple of weeks ago the Museum's Friends of Decorative Arts group met for their annual meeting and dinner. At that event they selected two great Victorian pieces on which to spend the money their dues has brought in. One is a really jazzy, and so far to my experience, unique soup ladle by Gorham Mfg. Co. Clearly a bizzaro spin-off on their "Medallion" pattern, this ladle has a fully 3-D classical bust of a bearded man wearing a grapevine wreath as its finial. It also has a medallion block on which is a gift inscription and the date 1867. To push it completely over the top, at the base of the handle, right above the bowl, is a fully 3-D cast stag's head. Although the Museum has a number of interesting ladles in its collection, it really had nothing of this style, and I can't think of a better example.

The second major acquisition was a real "curator special." Since our collecting is strongly interpretive in emphasis (rather than on style per se, we try to zero in on what things meant to their original owners); I was enamored of an extremely rare form: a rococo-revival castor or cruet set, complete with all seven of its wheel-engraved glass bottles. Made and dated in 1848 by Gale & Hayden of NYC, this set is engraved overall with fine (not fabulous, but fine) rococo engraving, including marvelous romantic scenery of castles (or farms--they appear to be thatched-roof castles, so you figure it out). The seven bottles were intact, which is a virtual miracle, and even the matching monogramed mustard ladle was still with it. What struck me most as a curator (aside from the fact that this weighs a ton empty, and must have given the white-gloved butler a real challenge in passing it around the table) is the evidence of a wide variety of condiments and food-flavorings that must have been available and expected at a well-heeled table in the late 1840s. What I did not understand, beyond the obvious oil, vinegar, mustard and sugar, was the fact that soy sauce, cayenne (hot pepper) sauce, and "fish sauce" were also routine condiments--as well as ketchup (catsup), by the 1820s and 30s. The cruet frame is one of the rarest forms of early Victorian silver in America, and that may be because they were simply rare, or because they were usually English electro-plated imports. Anyone have any insight into that?