Tall Cylindrical Cream Pitcher

A taller cylindrical cream pitcher with a generous lip and a strap handle, this is functional silver holloware pared to a clean, architectural outline, the kind of restrained domestic object Spratling produced in quantity in his later years. The design favors proportion and the strap handle's line over applied ornament.

The pitcher was included in "The World of William Spratling," the touring museum exhibition organized through the McNay Art Institute in 1965, whose published inventory listed pitchers among the silver objects on display (Morrill, p. 77).

Worked in the 980 silver Spratling preferred over sterling and marked with the joined "WS" adapted from his horse brand (Morrill, p. 39), this is a documented exhibition piece. Its place in the 1965 show and the condition of the form are what carry it.