A sugar bowl is a small bowl designed for holding sugar or sugar cubes, to be served with tea or coffee in the Western tradition, that is an integral part of a tea set.

History[edit]

Early sets for drinking tea included few separate little silver containers that were frequently made in pair or sets of three and placed under a lock and key into a case due to the high cost of tea and sugar at the time, with the larger container intended for sugar. The original sugar holders were box-like, they evolved into a shape of a bowl with a close-fitting lid (with the shape similar to the modern designs), later were made of glass or had a glass insert. ^[1]

The idea of using a matching service with teapot, creamer, and a sugar bowl became popular during the reign of George III, although some very rare examples are older.^[1]

The second half of the 18th century witnessed the replacement of silver by porcelain in the tea sets in order to match the cups, and the porcelain sugar bowls came into vogue.^[2]

Notable sugar bowls[edit]

• Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden presented a pair of silver sugar bowls to Johan Sederholm, his godfather, in 1796.^[3]
• The Fondazione Palazzo Coronini Cronberg Foundation of Gorizia has a Venetian sugar bowl of the Napoleonic period.^[4]
• The book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, as well as the second and third seasons of its Netflix adaptation, come to center around retrieving a mysterious Sugar Bowl, or "vessel for disaccharides". What the Sugar Bowl contains or why it is so important remains shrouded in mystery in the books, although both of these are revealed in the final episodes of the third season.
• In We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson the sugar bowl is a prominent object used to poison and murder members of the Blackwood Family.

References[edit]

Sources[edit]

• Wenham, Edward (June 1927). "Evolution of the tea set". The Antiquarian. VIII (5). New York: 41–46.