Not currently on display at the V&A

Bread Basket

1761-1762 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This bread basket held bread, fruit or cake and would have been handed round the table. The silversmith used a small chisel to punch out the pierced diaper decoration you can see here.

Bread baskets were particularly popular items of tableware throughout the period 1700-1800. They were usually circular, oval or boat-shaped with an everted (turned-out) rim and a high arched, bail handle which was sometimes fixed but more often hinged. The sides were decorated by piercing or die stamping or a combination of both techniques. The basket usually rested on a supporting rim with similar decoration.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Silver, pierced
Brief description
Bread basket, pierced diaper work decoration, silver, London 1761-2, Mark of 'E.R.'
Physical description
Bread basket, silver, marked 'E.R.', pierced decoration forming a variety of decorative diaper work around the edge of the basket.
Dimensions
  • Length: 13in
  • Width: 9.5in
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'E.R.' (Maker's mark (unidentified))
  • London hallmarks for 1761-2
  • Engraved coat of arms of Robert Edgar of Wickhambrook, Suffolk, High Sheriff, 1747, and of his wife Susannah, daughter of W.M. Gray prebendary of Peterborough.
Object history
The piercing of the metal, made inexpensively by a mechanical process, which replaced the earlier hand-punching, produces a variety of decorative diaper work around the edge of the basket.
Subject depicted
Summary
This bread basket held bread, fruit or cake and would have been handed round the table. The silversmith used a small chisel to punch out the pierced diaper decoration you can see here.

Bread baskets were particularly popular items of tableware throughout the period 1700-1800. They were usually circular, oval or boat-shaped with an everted (turned-out) rim and a high arched, bail handle which was sometimes fixed but more often hinged. The sides were decorated by piercing or die stamping or a combination of both techniques. The basket usually rested on a supporting rim with similar decoration.
Collection
Accession number
CIRC.398-1925

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Record createdSeptember 10, 2004
Record URL
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