A small Dutch silver basket

With its flowers and foliate rim the present cooler-shaped basket is a typical example of the Louis XV style. We find these small coolers also in Louis XIV style. It is suggested these baskets were used for candy or candied fruit (cf. De Lorm, Ter Molen). Ter Molen shows an example of a cooler-shaped basket which forms a pair together with an example in the shape of a tiny breadbasket. Both were made by Johannes D'Hoy from Middelburg in 1771
Ter Molen suggets an identical function for both types.

Comparative literature:
Lorm, J.R. de, Amsterdam Goud en Zilver, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, 1999, p.146.
Molen, J.R. ter, Zilver, Catalogus van de voorwerpen van edelmetaal in de collectie van het Museum Boymans- van Beuningen, Rotterdam, nr.95, 96.
'Keuzes uit de aanwinsten', in Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 46, 1998, p.86.

See illustration