V & A, Europe 1600-1815, Room 3, case CA7
Although sugar today has become an everyday product, it was not always the case and was very much a luxurious indulgence. Using the sweet meat bowls above as examples I seek to explore our bittersweet love affair with sugar.
The name sugar still conjures up images
of wealth. For example, the term “sugar daddy” (an affluent mature gentleman who
lavishes gifts on a young woman) is a case in point. Here we retain the meaning
of sugar as a symbol associated with riches. The word is used in commonplace
language that tends to be linked with sweetness and love, hence expressions of
affection like “sugar baby”, “sugar plum”, and “candy love”. The song I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl by the Jazz singer Nina
Simone adheres to this concept of illicit desire and offers a flavour of what
sugar meant in 18th century society.
During this period everyone wanted some
sugar in their bowl. Sugar was still a
special treat but was becoming more affordable.
Sugar continued to convey an image of delight with sweet delicacies enticing the taste buds; just imagine the “sugar rush”! The demand for sugar was led by the increased
consumption of other commodities such as tea, coffee and chocolate; not to
mention the plantation owner’s pursuit for even greater profits. There
was no stopping the sugar boom because the more it was consumed, the more it
was demanded. The largest sugar producer
in the world by 1750 was the French colony known as Saint-Domingue (Haiti).
The insatiable quest and desire for both
sugar and riches buoyed the transatlantic slave trade. Over 12 million Africans
laboured over a span of 400 years to bring sweet bowls of sugar to the table
such as the ones illustrated.
The two bowls shown were made in Meissen,
Germany and modelled by Johanne Frederick Eberlein in 1741, but produced in
1765-75. Bowls such as these were used
to decorate the tables of the rising merchant classes as part of the dessert fanfare.
The black figures were portrayed as an
exotic component of the sugar bowls. They express how Europeans saw blackness;
note the striped cloth around the woman’s head in the form of a headband. This
was often a feature on many European crest of arms likened to a
"blackamoor", a term used for
a black person. The black male figure represents the Native American, but you
can only tell he is a Native American because he is dressed in feathered skirt
with a feathered head dress.
Meissen was one of the first places to
make porcelain especially for the table centre pieces for display during the
dessert. The products were aimed at the
French market which was not surprising since France and Britain were among the
leading consumers of sugar.
Sugar was believed by many to be good for
wellbeing, vigour and even became associated with fertility. Men such as the English
Duke of Beaufort in a 1715 publication "Vindication of Sugars” stated that
what “preserves apples and plums will also preserve liver and lungs”. While not
subscribing to the Duke of Beaufort’s devotion to sugar (he ate nearly a pound
a day!) there is no doubt that sugar changed our diet and our love affair with
sugar remains to this day. The British
public still eats far more sweets than anyone else on the continent. So, in the
words of another late singer, Lynsey de Paul: Sugar Me!
Joy Johnson, V&A Guide
