Waste Bowl 1827

This waste bowl was made of silver by Harvey Lewis, an American silversmith who died in 1835. Its existence tells us much about the rituals and social life of affluent families in the early 19th-century United States. Waste bowls such as this were used during tea services, to collect the dregs of tea cups, and would have been prominently displayed as part of a table setting. Note the engraved coat-of-arms – it signified social standing and ancestry, something of growing importance in the new republic, where many families had made their fortunes only recently. Silversmiths like Lewis met the demand for luxury goods and helped to consolidate the identities of wealthy families. To understand the significance of the bowl better, scholars might investigate probate inventories, newspapers advertisements, and other archival sources to better understand the growth of consumer culture in the United States. The bowl stands as a testament to the ways in which material objects reflect social values.