Arc-En-Ciel Ewer
date: label: Date made
content: ca 1903-1905
name: label: designer
content: Lessell, John
label: decorator
content: Lessell, John
notes: label: Description
content: About the Arts and Crafts Movement:
label: Description
content: Beginning in England in the early 1880s, the Arts and Crafts movement spread across the United States and Europe by the late 1880s. It celebrated the importance of beauty in everyday objects and urged a reconnection to nearby nature. The movement resisted the way industrial mass production undermined artisan crafts and was inspired by the ideas of artisan William Morris and writer John Ruskin. Valuing hand-made objects using traditional materials, it was known for a color palette of earth tones. Its artistic principles replaced realistic, colorful, and three-dimensional designs with more abstract and simplified forms using subdued tones. Stylized plant forms and matte glazes echoed a shift to quiet restraint in household décor. The Arts and Crafts movement also embraced social ideals, including respect for skilled hand labor and concern for the quality of producers’ lives. The movement struggled with the tension between the cost of beautiful crafts and the limited number of households able to afford them. Some potters relied on practical products such as drain tiles to boost income or supported themselves with teaching or publications. Arts and Crafts influence extended to other endeavors, including furniture, such as Stickley’s Mission Style, and architecture, such as the Arts and Crafts bungalow, built widely across the United States. American Arts and Crafts pottery flourished between 1880 and the first World War, though several potteries continued in successful operation into the later 20^th^ century.
label: Description
content: About Arc-En-Ciel Pottery:
label: Description
content: Established in Zanesville, Ohio in 1903, Arc-En-Ciel Pottery was originally dedicated to art pottery. Its iridescent gold luster wares were exhibited and drew attention at the 1904 St. Louis world exhibition, but the plant shifted to cooking ware by 1905 and changed its name to Brighton Pottery. It closed in 1907.
label: Description
content: About the Object:
label: Description
content: White-bodied earthenware ewer or pitcher, covered with iridescent gold luster. Tall neck with scalloped lip. Printed mark: "ARC EN CIEL" in double circle.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Ohio, Zanesville
topic: label: Subject
content: Art Pottery
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Ceramics and Glass
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: From the Marcus Benjamin Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: CE.379625
label: catalog number
content: 379625
label: accession number
content: 150313
objectType: label: Object Name
content: ewer
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: monochrome, gold (overall surface decoration color name)
label: Physical Description
content: ceramic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: earthenware (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 10 3/4 in x 5 5/16 in; 27.305 cm x 13.462 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 11 in x 5 5/16 in; 27.94 cm x 13.5255 cm