Skip to main content Smithsonian Institution

Catalog Data

Physical Description:
polychrome (overall surface decoration color name)
ceramic, earthenware, refined (overall material)
transfer printed (overall production method/technique)
Measurements:
overall: 4 5/8 in x 11 3/16 in; 11.7475 cm x 28.41625 cm
Object Name:
bowl
Place made:
United Kingdom: England, Liverpool
Description:
This creamware bowl is decorated with several transfer print designs. On the interior is a polychromed print of a ship under sail entitled “Sally Chandler, 1800.” The exterior has four prints. The first is a print of John Adams surrounded by the allegorical figures of Plenty, Justice, and Liberty. Next is a design of the Map of the United States at the start of the 19th century, with George Washington standing next to it. He is flanked by the allegorical figures of Liberty, Wisdom, Justice, and Fame. Next is a design showing a Continental soldier with his foot on the head of the British lion. In the background are soldiers and ships under sail. A scroll around the image reads “By Virtue and Valour we have freed our Country, extended our Commerce, and laid the Foundation of a Great Empire.” Finally, there is a print of a young woman holding a telescope looking out to sea after a ship.
This bowl is part of the McCauley collection of American themed transfer print pottery. There is no mark on the bowl to tell us who made it, but it is characteristic of wares made in large volume for the American market in both Staffordshire and Liverpool between 1790 and 1820. Pitchers of this shape, with a cream colored glaze over a pale earthenware clay, known as Liverpool type, were the most common vessels to feature transfer prints with subjects commemorating events and significant figures in the early decades of United States’ history. Notwithstanding the tense relationship between Britain and America, Liverpool and Staffordshire printers and potters seized the commercial opportunity offered them in the production of transfer printed earthenwares celebrating the heroes, the military victories, and the virtues of the young republic, and frequently all of these things at once.
Location:
Currently not on view
Credit Line:
Robert H. McCauley
ID Number:
CE.63.137
Catalog number:
63.137
Accession number:
248619
Collector/donor number:
48-378
See more items in:
Home and Community Life: Ceramics and Glass
Government, Politics, and Reform
Domestic Furnishings
McCauley Liverpool Pottery
Data Source:
National Museum of American History
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a3-c63e-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:nmah_572549