Lidded Sugar Bowl
Original OwnerOriginally owned by
Mary Gorton Keeney
MakerMade by
Staffordshire potteries
(English, 17th century-present)
Dateabout 1820
MediumMold-formed buff-colored earthenware with a blue-tinted glaze and underglaze cobalt blue decoration
DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (height including lid x width x depth): 4 3/4 x 6 1/8 x 4 1/4in. (12.1 x 15.6 x 10.8cm)
ClassificationsCeramics
Credit LineGift of Margaret F. Bunyan
Object number1978.16.2a-b
DescriptionRectangular lidded sugar bowl of buff-colored earthenware with a blue-tinted glaze, a type of ceramic known as pearlware. The sugar bowl is part of a partial tea service consisting of a teapot (.1a,b), lidded sugar bowl (.2a,b), cream pitcher (.3), two tea bowls (.4 and .5), and two saucers (.6 and .7). All of the pieces in the set have the same transfer-printed underglaze cobalt blue pattern and border. The pattern shows a boy sitting beneath a tree to the right. He is playing a wind instrument, probably a flute, and looking out over a small lake in the foreground. Behind the lake is a small hill with at least one grazing sheep, and possibly two. A house with a tower sits on a tree-topped hill in the distance. The pattern is surrounded by foliage and a scalloped line on top, and a line of leaves on the bottom. The border, found on all the pieces in the set, has circles and squares superimposed on a blue field. The geometric shapes are filled with flowers and smaller geometric patterns. Abstract flowers, fruit, and leaves are located throughout the blue field.
Sugar Bowl (.2a): The sugar bowl swells from a rectangular foot with curved corners to a wide middle, narrows below the neck, swells again just below the rim, and has a small ledge where the rim rests inside the bowl. There are two small, scroll-shaped handles applied at each end of the sugar bowl, just over two mold lines in the same location. The pattern is printed once on each long side of the sugar bowl, and the border is printed just outside the rim. The handles are decorated with portions of geometric shapes printed on a blue field. There is light crazing on the bottom of the sugar bowl, especially around five short, dark cracks in the ceramic. There is a second group of short cracks just below one handle, near the foot of the sugar bowl. There are two chips in the rim, on the ledge that supports the lid.
Lid (.2b): The rectangular lid has a small, rectangular molded finial applied to the slightly domed center. The border is printed around the edge of the lid, and on the top of the finial as well.
Sugar Bowl (.2a): The sugar bowl swells from a rectangular foot with curved corners to a wide middle, narrows below the neck, swells again just below the rim, and has a small ledge where the rim rests inside the bowl. There are two small, scroll-shaped handles applied at each end of the sugar bowl, just over two mold lines in the same location. The pattern is printed once on each long side of the sugar bowl, and the border is printed just outside the rim. The handles are decorated with portions of geometric shapes printed on a blue field. There is light crazing on the bottom of the sugar bowl, especially around five short, dark cracks in the ceramic. There is a second group of short cracks just below one handle, near the foot of the sugar bowl. There are two chips in the rim, on the ledge that supports the lid.
Lid (.2b): The rectangular lid has a small, rectangular molded finial applied to the slightly domed center. The border is printed around the edge of the lid, and on the top of the finial as well.
Status
Not on view
