The Silver Sugar Jar Collection at the German Museum of Technology, Berlin
The Sugar Museum, part of the German Museum of Technology in Berlin, was conceptually redesigned and opened to the public in 2015. Since then an important collection of silver objects has been on display. The collection is comprised of approximately 350 Prussian, Austrian, Russian, and British silver hollowware pieces used to hold sugar over the centuries. These pieces from the seventeenth century to the present day are presented as if in a treasure chamber. Arranged in chronological order, the sugar vessels and sugar utensils reveal their original value. Visitors can follow how the form and material reflect the spirit of the times in which they were created.
Silverware as a Means of Distinction
The use of sugar jars, sugar bowls, and sugar baskets was accompanied
By Christine Keruth M.A. and Karolina Stefanski, Ph.D.by an increased demand for sugar consumption following the introduction and spread of tea, coffee, and cocoa in Europe. Since the trade of goods between Europe, Africa, and America from the seventeenth century onwards via the Atlantic Ocean (the so-called Triangle Trade), these three colonial beverages have been appreciated as luxurious commodities. Numerous customs barriers between the colonies and European countries led to sugar becoming the object of high taxes, and it was thus a sought-after luxury item with a high price.1
The change in drinking habits and the associated introduction of new table manners initially took place at the French Court of Louis XIV in Versailles, where the artistic use of hot beverages became fashionable. Sugar water was considered a delicacy between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries and was a popular beverage of the upper classes (Figure 1).2
While at first only nobility could afford sugar, the middle class increasingly established itself in the Electorate of Bavaria (1623-1806), later the Kingdom of Bavaria (1805-1918). Like the Medici in Florence, the Fugger and Welser families, for example, had become wealthy as world trade and banking grew stronger. As an external manifestation of their economic and political positions, such patricians and citizens equipped their houses with precious objects, especially silver.
The possession of precious metal in the form of silver reflected the social position of the owner. Because of its value, silver was suitable for distinguishing oneself from other social classes. For the storage and display of sugar, silversmiths crafted elaborate sugar vessels and matching utensils that exhibited the artistic style and taste of the owner in that era.
From a Powder to a Sugar Jar
The sugar jar, which is still in use today, originated from containers for powder or scented water around 1700 in Augsburg.3 At the beginning of its introduction, the sugar jar was indistinguishable from utensils meant for hygiene or a beauty accessory. Sugar shakers, which enjoyed great popularity especially during the eighteenth century, were also modeled on other containers, namely shakers for spices. In addition, specific accessories were developed to improve the handling of sugar, such as sugar tongs (Figure 2) for gripping pieces, which came into being in the eighteenth century, and sugar scissors for cutting sugar cones. Sugar spoons and sprinkling spoons were also used to decorate fruit and baked goods with crushed crystals.
Berlin – A Center of Renowned Goldand Silversmiths
In the sixteenth century, Berlin developed into an important gold and silversmithing hub, in addition to the already renowned Southern German gold- and silversmithing centers such as Augsburg and Nuremberg. The center was home to outstanding silversmiths of the Renaissance, baroque, and rococo periods, who made a name for themselves all over the world. Under Elector of Brandenburg Johann Georg (15251598), who placed substantial silver orders, it was necessary to employ additional gold- and silversmiths from Antwerp, Nuremberg, and Spain in order to fulfill his needs. However, the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) minimized the growth of the Berlin silver workshops.
From the middle of the seventeenth century, under the Brandenburg Elector Friedrich Wilhelm (Great Elector, 1620-1688), the goldsmith guild regained its strength once more, and the first court gold- and silversmiths were appointed. With the arrival of the Huguenots, through the Edict of Potsdam of 1685, a French gold- and silversmith guild of the so called “Refugiés” developed alongside the Prussian guild from around 1700.4 Works from this period by Berlin silversmiths Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Borcke (1789-1839), Jean Jacques Godet (1770-1818), and Henri Masseron (1723-1817) are on display at the German Museum of Technology in Berlin.
Johann George Hossauer – The Berlin Silversmith as Pioneer of New Techniques
The most renowned Berlin gold- and silversmith of his time, Johann Georg Hossauer (1794-1874), is especially known for making significant technical
changes and technological advances. As early as 1819, he established his Berlin “factory for goods made of platinum, gold, silver, bronze, gold- and silverplated copper in the English style.”5 His new plating production process was a method in which a base metal
was welded together with a precious metal using rollers. By heating during the rolling process, the two materials bonded tightly together, and the material could then be easily driven and chased (Figure 3).6
In 1842 he succeeded in gilding and silver-plating drinking utensils by means of the galvanic process, an electrolytic refinement. Through this process, the precious metal required was reduced to a minimal amount. Since this technique was less costly than full or even hollow metal casting, the electroforming process was quickly introduced into industrial production.
The Original Shape of the Sugar Box was Born in Berlin
The first basic forms of the sugar box were developed around 1800 in Berlin and later adapted by gold- and silversmiths in Vienna and Breslau.7 In the Silver Cabinet of the German Museum of Technology, these vessels are presented in a variety of forms and from different stylistic eras. The lock and key prove the former preciousness of the vessel’s contents. In the first half of the nineteenth century, the sugar boxes often stood on four claw feet (Figure 4). Gold- and silversmiths were inspired by antique models and forms through the excavations of Pompeii during this period.8 Appliques or medallions with depictions from Greek mythology can be seen on sugar boxes. From 1825 onwards, most of the boxes present a frieze on the front, which encircles the entire object. Continuous décor is seen in the application of roses, vine leaves, or ivy.9
Up until the era of industrialization, the form of the sugar box remained basic. Later it transformed into a more bulbous one with a vaulted lid and a finely shaped three-dimensional finial, usually in the shape of a flower or an animal.
Change of Form and Décor
The change in style from the respective epochs are also reflected in the silver vessels and utensils. Early baroque boxes with lids, often standing on four feet, display an oval form. Their décor is either plain with little
decorative motifs, or shows mostly oblique and curved ribs, ending in a curve and a gadrooned design.
As with the baroque period, the oval form of the sugar box continues during the rococo period. From the second half of the eighteenth century, only the decorative motifs changed. The sugar boxes show more sculptural decorative themes with a lavish floral and faunal evolution.
From the French Revolution of 1789, the language of form turned away from splendidly ornate decorative motifs. A new artistic period began with neoclassicism (about 1770-1840), which combined a reaction against the highly ornate style of the late baroque and rococo with a new interest in antiquity. Based on the rediscovery of antiquity, it brought a return to simple, symmetrical, and clean forms and décor.
At the end of romanticism, a period of reaction against the order of neoclassicism and rationalism characterized by the Age of Enlightenment, the stylistic pluralism of historicism from the middle of the nineteenth century, was accompanied by a mix of diverse decorative motifs from past styles applied on both sugar utensils and sugar vessels.
In the course of industrialization, a powerful economic system developed. Some gold- and silversmiths launched their own silver manufactories and factories. Whereas previously elaborate handicraft techniques were primarily a cost factor, it was increasingly minimized by machine-aided production. Newly developed tools, machines, and production methods saved time and material and thus made it possible to inexpensively produce silver and
silver-plated table services without elaborate decoration.
German Federation of Work (Deutscher Werkbund) and the Bauhaus
From 1907, the German Federation of Work (Deutscher Werkbund) was formed in Munich from the reform movement under John Ruskin (18191900). Its members, such as German architect and designer Peter Behrens (1868-1940), tried to develop a new product aesthetic for industrial production. The motto was that design should satisfy the purpose, the material, and the construction.10 These guiding principles of the pre-war period were continued in the Bauhaus movement founded in 1919.
The Hungarian painter, photographer, and stage designer Laszlo Moholy-Nagy (1895-1946) took over
the management of the Bauhaus metal workshop in Weimar in 1923. As a master of form, he set new accents on his predecessor, Johannes Itten (18881967). The production of small series, in which other working materials were used, was linked with basic craftsmanship training.11 In addition to gold and silver, non-precious, so-called “base metals” were used, which was truly a revolution, as the professional pride of gold- and silversmiths had forbidden the use of these materials until then.
Experiments were initially carried out with copper, brass, bronze, or tombac. Silver and nickel silver (copper alloy with nickel and zinc: 60% copper, 20% nickel, and 20% zinc) became less and less important. More nickel, aluminum, nickel-plated brass, or chrome was used in the production of sugar vessels that, polished to a shine, accentuated the cool, mechanical appearance of the
typical Bauhaus basic forms of circle, sphere, cylinder, square, or cube. It was not until the Bauhaus moved to Dessau in 1925 that some of the designs were implemented in an industrial mass production (Figures 5 & 6). Objects such as those by German designer Marianne Brandt (1893-1983), industrial designer Wilhelm Wagenfeld (1900-1990), Christian Dell (1893-1974), or Wolfgang Tümpel (1903-1978) became icons of Bauhaus design history.12
The Present Time
The current lifestyle of wealthy consumers today may include exclusive interior design with luxury kitchens and fine tabletop accessories. The sugar jar lost its status symbol over time. Ownership of silver coffee and tea services by internationally renowned European silver manufacturers such as Robbe & Berking, Georg Jensen,
or Christofle has become a rarity and only accessible to a select few. As in the seventeenth century, certain customers still aspire to an extravagant look of silver, crafted with exceptional materials and fine craftsmanship.
Non-precious metal services made by manufacturers such as Auerhahn, Alessi, and WMF satisfy the aspirations of a wider range of groups. The Italian houseware manufacturer Alessi still produces select pieces in limited quantity today. Their product range includes so-called “milestones” of design - from the Bauhaus to the present. The museum’s silver collection contains some of these design classics, such as the Alessi “Avio” sugar bowl designed by the Italian designers Carlo Mazzeri and Anselmo Vitale in 1961, and the stainless-steel sugar bowl designed by Richard Sapper created in collaboration with Alberto Gozzi. The American architect and
designer Michael Graves (1934-2015) designed a sugar bowl for Alessi in 1988, derived from the Bauhaus style. The sugar bowl has a round cone shape with a ball knob and two stainless steel handles. There are no limits on the luxury scale today—the legendary German silver manufacturer Robbe & Berking is known for fine silver craftsmanship, supplying royal families and embassies with traditional and contemporary silver services and flatware. Another German silver manufacturer, Wilkens & Söhne, offers tea and coffee services in the same style as 300 years ago, which consequently are as costly as an entire kitchen made to order. Individual custom-made products can cost as much as a new mid-range car.
In 2013 the Austrian artist Erwin Wurm (b. 1954) designed his “Zuccheriera” XXL sugar jar in the form of an inflated car, consisting of two
parts that can be opened in the middle. The limited edition of ten Zuccheriera XXL sugar jars was handmade of silverplate by a silversmith. Wurm recalls on the one hand the heyday of the highest silversmith’s art in Europe between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, and on the other hand he emphasizes a high-quality artistic object for daily use as a status symbol. Art Director of the Wiener Silber Manufactur, Dr. Barbara Kamler-Wild, commented on this object: “Every piece we produce is a statement.”13
As a counterpart to these luxury items, there are inexpensive storage containers for mass consumption of sugar. All over the world there are sugar vessels with screw caps and beveled tubes in tea houses or cafés nowadays. The user is probably unaware of the origins of this everyday object. It was invented by Heinrich
Kurz (1862-1934) from NidderauWindecken, Germany, and was marketed under the name “Sweet Heinrich” (Süßer Heinrich) from 1954 on by the German company Theodor Jacob Handelshaus Helly e. K.
Conclusion
Today sugar is omnipresent, is freely available, and is used for preservation or as a flavor enhancer. Hot beverages are consumed more than ever by all social classes and are enriched with milk, sugar or other sweeteners. The need for everyday or sophisticated tea and coffee services, including sugar vessels, has been passed on to a degree, depending on culture and customs. The craftsmanship, material, décor, and age of the sugar vessel used today indicates the taste and lifestyle of its owner, as it did 300 years ago.
1. Melitta Schmidt (Jonas), “Zur Entwicklung von Zuckergefäßen und Zuckergeräten,” Zuckergefäße und Zuckergeräte aus Silber im Zuckermuseum (Berlin: Zucker-Museum Berlin, 1991), 8.
2. Hubert Olbrich, “ZuckerwasserGarnituren,” Zuckergefäße und Zuckergeräte aus Silber im Zuckermuseum (Berlin: Zucker-Museum Berlin, 1991), 68.
3. Schmidt (Jonas), Zuckergefäße und Zuckergeräte, 10-11.
4. Horsta Krum, Preußens Adoptivkinder – Die Hugenotten – 300 Jahre Edikt von Potsdam (Berlin: Arani-Verlag GmbH, 1985), 204.
5. C. Brecht, “Johann George Hossauer
NOTES
(1874),” Vermischte Schriften im Anschluss an die Berlinische Chronik und das Urkundenbuch, hrsg. vom Verein für die Geschichte Berlins, I., (Berlin 1888), 1-8.
6. Bruckmann’s Silber-Lexikon (Munich: Verlag F. Bruckmann, 1982), 62; Also see: Jochem Wolters, Der Gold- und Silberschmied, Vol. I (Stuttgart: RühleDiebener, 1981), 152-155.
7. Schmidt (Jonas), Zuckergefäße und Zuckergeräte, 12.
8. Ibid.
9. Wolfgang Scheffler, Silberne Zuckerdosen in Deutschland 1700-1840. Eine Formenfibel (Berlin: Bartens Verlag, 1990), 119.
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12. This year, 2019, celebrates the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Bauhaus.
13. Patrizia Tonin, “Erwin Wurms ‘Zuccheriera’ XXL Sugar Box , ”
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Christine Keruth is a research associate at the Stiftung Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin. She studied Cultural Science and Art History and at the Free University of Berlin and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Cultural Science at the University of Potsdam. Contact: keruth@sdtb.de.
Karolina Stefanski was awarded a Ph.D. in Art History (decorative arts) from the Technical University of Berlin where she studied under Prof. Dr. Bénédicte Savoy. Her dissertation analyzes the stylistic transformation of French Empire style in silver from Berlin, Warsaw, and Vienna from 1797 to 1848. She received a Master’s degree in Art History from the Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art at Sorbonne University, Paris, and a Bachelor’s Degree from Suffolk University in Boston. Contact: polycletus@gmail.com.