Images(2)

Tea Bowls

MakerPossibly made by Enoch Wood & Sons English, July 1818-1846

After a work byProbably after a wood engraving by John Warner Barber American, 1798 - 1885

Dateabout 1840

MediumMechanically-molded buff-colored earthenware with a blue-tinted glaze and underglaze cobalt blue decoration

DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (height x diameter of .18): 2 1/2 x 3 3/4in. (6.4 x 9.5cm)
Primary Dimensions (height x diameter of .19-.22): 2 1/2 x 3 1/2in. (6.4 x 8.9cm)

ClassificationsCeramics

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Morgan B. Brainard, Jr.

DescriptionGroup of five round tea bowls made of buff-colored earthenware with a blue-tinted glaze, a type of ceramic known as pearlware. The tea bowls are decorated with a transfer-printed underglaze cobalt blue pattern and border. The pattern, printed twice on the outside of each tea bowl, shows three people in a sailboat with a single mast and sail on a body of water. Two more individuals are standing and one is sitting on the shore in the near foreground. Beyond the river, a building sits on a shore at the base of a mountain. A crenellated tower is at the top of the mountain. The printed patterns are surrounded by a border of white shells and light blue plants on a field of dark blue. There is an additional border at the rim of each tea bowl, consisting of a line of evenly spaced, small, white flowers. The shell border is printed again on the inside rim of each tea bowl. A small, transfer-printed pattern on the inside bottom of each tea bowl shows the same tower and a portion of the wooded mountain described above. Four of the five tea bowls, .19 to .22, have clear, crisp images with excellent definition between the various shades of blue. One tea bowl, .18, is printed with a darker blue and has smudges in the underglaze transfer-printed pattern and borders. All of the tea bowls have crazing, however .18 has less crazing than the others. Tea bowls .20 and .22 have discolored, especially on the inside of .22.

Object number1978.102.18-.22

MarkingsThe following marks are located on the bottom of the individual tea bowls:
Tea bowl .18 has an impressed capital "T".
Tea bowl .19 has an impressed "3" and an underglaze cobalt blue "20".
Tea bowl .20 has an impressed "1" and an underglaze cobalt blue "8".
Tea bowl .21 has an impressed "1" and an underglaze cobalt blue "29".
Tea bowl .22: has an impressed "17" and a circular tan sticker with a red scalloped edge and the number "596" hand-written in blue ink on the white area.NotesSubject Note: The pattern on these ceramics, titled, "WADSWORTH TOWER", shows a tower built in 1810 by Daniel Wadsworth. The tower was built on top of Talcott Mountain, on Wadsworth's country estate, "Monte Video," in the town of Avon, Connecticut. Wadsworth's home on the estate, pictured in other Staffordshire ceramics, was near Wadsworth Tower, but is not pictured in this pattern. The tower commanded a fine view of the Connecticut river valley and was a popular resort for sight seers. It was blown down in 1840.

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