Sugar sculpture

(1) .......... use of materials like stone or metal in their work. An exhibition has just opened at the Bowes Museum in England,

make

however, where re-creations of sculptures carved from a very different material, sugar, are on (2)……..

display

To understand the (3)……………..

of this art form, you must go back 500 years,

development

to a time when sugar

was very rare and was (4)……….. only to the very wealthy.

available

In those days, it became popular for rich Europeans to show (5)…….. their wealth by decorating their dining tables with elaborate sugar sculptures to impress their guests on special occasions.

off

The finest artists were employed to (6) ...

.... on these sculptures

work

which reflected the host's (7) ....... taste and position in society.

good

Although expensively decorated tables (8) .......... popular into the 19th century,

remained

the idea then went out of (9) .…... and was largely forgotten.

fashion

This was partly because sugar sculptures only (10)…… for a limited time - around 100 years at most

last

so eventually there were none in

(11) ........

existence

The Bowes Museum has recently (12) .......... a collection of the wooden tools used in the production of sugar sculptures, together with some original designs, in an attempt to recreate the forgotten art form.

acquired