Pitcher
MakerMade by
William Davenport & Company
English, 1835 - 1887
Original OwnerOriginally owned by
Sarah Maria Raymond
American
Dateabout 1845
MediumMold-formed buff-colored earthenware with a blue-tinted glaze, black underglaze decoration, and overglaze enamels in orange, yellow, pink, and green
DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (height x width x depth): 14 1/2 x 8 1/8 x 5 3/8in. (36.8 x 20.6 x 13.7cm)
ClassificationsCeramics
Credit LineGift of Mrs. R. B. Marean and Miss Ida A. Green
DescriptionTall, round, buff-colored earthenware pitcher with a blue-tinted glaze, a type of ceramic known as pearlware. The pitcher is part of a larger partial toilet set, consisting of a washbowl (.1) and pitcher (.2), two matching pitchers (.3 and .4), a shaving mug (.5), a soap dish (.6a-c), a toothbrush holder or razor box (.7a,b), and a lid (.8). The entire set is decorated with a floral pattern and border. The naturalistic floral pattern consists of variously sized flowers transfer-printed in black beneath the glaze, with green, pink, and light orange enamel highlights hand-painted over the glaze. The remaining decoration consists of a scalloped border made up of a printed, underglaze, black, scalloped band, next to an overglaze, hand-painted, orange, scalloped band. This orange and black border is interrupted periodically by a group of elaborate scrolls of various sizes and widths and highlighted in green enamel. The scrolls surround a roughly diamond-shaped, scalloped-edge decorative element that is painted with light orange enamel. Finally, on all the objects in the set, the blue-tinted glaze has pooled around the printed decorative elements and raised or recessed portions of the ceramic's surface, giving the set a pearly blue and white appearance.
The pitcher sits on a small, circular foot with the orange and black border around the edge. It then swells to its widest point, where large flowers are hand-painted with pink, yellow, green, and orange enamels. The pitcher narrows again to the neck, before flarring slightly for the scalloped rim and spout. The black and orange border decorates the rim, with groups of flowers printed and hand-painted between the scrolls and orange decorative elements on the border. There are two mold lines on the pitcher, one running down the side of the pitcher below the spout, and the second beneath the handle. The handle was probably formed in a mold and attached by hand. A variation on the orange and black border, surrounded by scrolls, decorates the length of the handle.
There is only the smallest amount of crazing on the surface of the pitcher, located where the neck swells to the widest diameter to the right of the handle.
The pitcher sits on a small, circular foot with the orange and black border around the edge. It then swells to its widest point, where large flowers are hand-painted with pink, yellow, green, and orange enamels. The pitcher narrows again to the neck, before flarring slightly for the scalloped rim and spout. The black and orange border decorates the rim, with groups of flowers printed and hand-painted between the scrolls and orange decorative elements on the border. There are two mold lines on the pitcher, one running down the side of the pitcher below the spout, and the second beneath the handle. The handle was probably formed in a mold and attached by hand. A variation on the orange and black border, surrounded by scrolls, decorates the length of the handle.
There is only the smallest amount of crazing on the surface of the pitcher, located where the neck swells to the widest diameter to the right of the handle.
Object number1959.48.2
MarkingsThere are four marks on the bottom of the pitcher: a lightly impressed anchor with the curved name "DAVENPORT" above and two unknown numbers on either side of the vertical portion of the anchor; an underglaze, printed, black mark of an oval cartouche, embellished with scrolls, with the pattern name "ROSE & LILY" inside and the company name "DAVENPORT" below; an overglaze, pink, enamel number "1051"; and an impressed number "30".On View
Not on view
Object/Object