See more objects with the tag fluted, conical, entertaining, stepped, tableware design .

Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

1928

  • Work on this object began.

2015

2016

2017

2025

  • You found it!

Compote Compote

This is a Compote. It was manufactured by Reed & Barton. It is dated 1928. Its medium is silver. It is a part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.

In 1928 Reed and Barton introduced the Modernist group, the company’s first experiment in modern design, including smoking accessories and tablewares in sterling, silver plate, and pewter. One advertisement purported, Modernist pieces were “something that can be used, rather than merely admired.”[1] This promotion boasts the product’s functional as well as artistic assets. While other forms in the line, such as the candelabrum, looked to designs coming out of the Wiener Wekstatte in Austria, the compote shared the visual vocabulary of French moderne and resembled a similar classically-inspired tazza by the French silversmith Jean Puiforcat with a stepped base, ribbed columnar stem, and wide smooth bowl.

This object was donated by George R. Kravis II. It is credited Gift of George R. Kravis II.

Our curators have highlighted 3 objects that are related to this one.

  • Vase Vase
  • silver plated, nickel.
  • Museum purchase from Decorative Arts Association Acquisition and General....
  • 1993-111-1

Its dimensions are

H x diam.: 9.5 × 20.3 cm (3 3/4 in. × 8 in.)

It has the following markings

Underside of base: [1] “R” within shield between an eagle and a lion, impressed (manufacturer's mark, Reed & Barton) [2] eagle, impressed (Reed & Barton date mark for 1928) [3] “STERLING” impressed, (standard mark) [4] “983” impressed, (model number)

Cite this object as

Compote Compote; Manufactured by Reed & Barton (United States); silver; H x diam.: 9.5 × 20.3 cm (3 3/4 in. × 8 in.); Gift of George R. Kravis II; 2018-22-25

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s.

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<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/404536643/ |title=Compote Compote |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=10 March 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>