Images(3)

Tea Bowl and Saucer

MakerMade by Enoch Wood & Sons (English, July 1818-1846)

Date1818-1846

MediumMechanically-molded ironstone with an underglaze cobalt blue decoration

DimensionsComponent (height x diameter of cup): 2 5/8 x 4 3/8in. (6.7 x 11.1cm) Component (height x diameter of saucer): 1 3/8 x 6 7/8in. (3.5 x 17.5cm)

ClassificationsCeramics

Credit LineBequest of George Dudley Seymour

Object number1945.1.1492a-b

DescriptionRound, ironstone tea bowl (.a) and saucer (.b) with a transfer-printed pattern in dark underglaze cobalt blue. The glaze is tinted blue. The pattern shows a man in a dark blue jacket seated at the base of a tree to the right; he has an open book in his left hand. He is gazing to the left, at a memorial that has an urn sitting on top of a pedestal with the name "FRANKLIN" written on the front. The urn sits in a grove of flowering trees. In the middle and right background, a circular columned building sits on an island with a sailing ship to the right. The rays of the setting sun fill the sky behind the building. These elements are surrounded by a number of trees and flowers, then a narrow scalloped border at the rim of both the cup and saucer.

The transfer pattern is printed twice on the outside of the tea bowl (.a). The tea bowl has an additional border inside the rim of lighter blue flowers on a dark blue field. The bottom half of the insides of the tea bowl are left plain. The scene of the circular columned building framed by the setting sun is printed on the bottom inside.

Both the tea bowl and saucer have crazing over all surfaces.

NotesSubject Note: Although there is no evidence who the seated figure represents, some believe that this popular scene shows the Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834) mourning his departed friend, Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790). (Hunt 9/13/2004)

Status

Not on view