Artwork
Blackberries Spilling from Tin Cup
Blackberries Spilling from Tin Cup is an oil painting by the Realist artist Carducius Plantagenet Ream. It dates from 1878 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
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- Inscribed:lower right: C.P. Ream
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The subject is treated without narrative or allegorical context, focusing instead on the tactile quality of the berries and the reflective surface of the cup.
The painting shows ripe blackberries spilling from a tin cup, a simple still life that emphasizes abundance and the fleeting nature of seasonal fruit. The subject is treated without narrative or allegorical context, focusing instead on the tactile quality of the berries and the reflective surface of the cup. No symbolic meaning beyond the visual presence of the fruit is indicated in the documented record.
Technique & Style
Ream employed oil on board as the medium for Blackberries Spilling from Tin Cup, a painting in the National Gallery of Art's collection. The work measures 25.4 cm in height and 30.48 cm in width, reflecting a straightforward application of oil paint on a rigid support typical of his still life compositions. Its handling and condition are noted as stable within the museum's care, though specific conservation details are not publicly elaborated in available documentation.
The formal qualities demonstrate a focus on compositional balance and textural rendering of fruit against a simple backdrop, characteristic of Ream's realist approach.
History & Provenance
The painting Blackberries Spilling from Tin Cup was created by Carducius Plantagenet Ream as an oil on board work. Its provenance begins with Godel & Co., previously known as Howard Godel Fine Arts in New York, and was acquired in 1995 by William H. and Abigail Booth Gerdts. The artwork was subsequently gifted to the National Gallery of Art in 2018, as documented by Abigail Booth Gerdts in National Gallery of Art curatorial records.
The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. currently holds the piece, which measures 25.4 centimeters in height and 30.48 centimeters in width.
Blackberries Spilling from Tin Cup is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The painting entered the museum in 2018 as a gift from William H. (1929–2020) and Abigail Booth Gerdts of New York, who had acquired it in 1995 from Godel & Co. (previously Howard Godel Fine Arts) in New York. The transfer to the NGA was documented through materials provided by Abigail Booth Gerdts and recorded in the museum's curatorial files. No prior or subsequent exhibition history is recorded in the available documentation.
The provenance is documented through curatorial files at the National Gallery of Art, with the gift recorded in 2018.
Context
Carducius Plantagenet Ream's Blackberries Spilling from Tin Cup entered a private collection through Howard Godel Fine Arts in New York before William H. Gerdts and Abigail Booth Gerdts acquired it in 1995; the painting was gifted to the National Gallery of Art in 2018.
The work is part of the National Gallery of Art's collection in Washington, D.C., where it remains on view.
Ream, a self-taught American painter associated with the Naïve art movement, is represented in major museum holdings, though specific critical assessments of this particular work are not detailed in the provided documentation.
The painting measures 25.4 cm in height by 30.48 cm in width.
Overview
Blackberries Spilling from Tin Cup is an oil painting executed on board by American artist Carducius Plantagenet Ream in 1878. The work measures a modest size and presents a quiet domestic scene centered on a tipped silver cup from which dark berries cascade onto a wooden surface. The composition is rendered in a restrained palette of earthy tones, emphasizing the tactile qualities of metal, fruit, and shadow.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Cadurcis Plantagenet Ream, also referred to as Carducius Plantagenet Ream (May 8, 1838, Sugar Grove, Ohio - 20 June 1917, Chicago), was an American still-life painter who specialized in fruit.
