Edward Lycett Teacup and Saucer
date: label: date made
content: ca 1890-1895
name: label: maker
content: Lycett, Edward
notes: label: Description
content: About Edward Lycett Pottery:
label: Description
content: Edward Lycett arrived in the United States in 1861 and quickly received important commissions such as the 1865 White House painted porcelain service for President Abraham Lincoln. He produced the first vitrified china in America with pure gilt decoration for Tiffany & Company. Travelling across America, Lycett taught the decorative technique of china painting at major ceramic centers such as Cincinnati and East Liverpool, Ohio, where soon-to-be influential women in the art pottery movement, Maria Longworth Nichols and Mary Louise McLaughlin, began their careers as china painters. Within his own time, Lycett was called “the pioneer of china painting in America” by ceramic historians. In 1890, at the age of 57, Edward Lycett left Faience Manufacturing (See About Faience Manufacturing Company) when it was sold and moved to Atlanta, Georgia, to work in his son William’s studio. He continued to experiment with clay and glaze materials as well as different firing techniques until he died in 1910. A number of small pieces were donated to the Smithsonian and illustrate the breakthroughs of Edward Lycett’s experimentation. Rather than making flat test tiles, Lycett chose to make miniature forms to test his various metallic effects. Such cruets, vases, pitchers, and heart-shaped dishes display red iridescence, mirrored and matte gilding, and bubbling glaze techniques.
label: Description
content: About the Object:
label: Description
content: Japanese porcelain, decorated by Edward Lycett. A cylindrical cup with a fancy handle; saucer with a flat bottom and concave flaring sides. The surface covered with a stoppled white glaze and closely meandering lines. Mark painted in blue. Japanese eggshell porcelain with carved coral design and gilt rim, foot and circular handle. The saucer interior matches the exterior of the cup and also has a gilded rim. Both the cup and saucer are marked. Good condition.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Georgia, Atlanta
topic: label: Subject
content: Art Pottery
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Ceramics and Glass
label: See more items in
content: Domestic Furnishings
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of William Lycett
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: CE.96406ab
label: accession number
content: 30423
label: catalog number
content: 96406a
objectType: label: Object Name
content: tea cup and saucer
label: Object Name
content: Cup and Saucer
label: Object Name
content: teacup
label: Object Name
content: saucer
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: ceramic; porcelain (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: blue (cup color)
label: Physical Description
content: blue (saucer color)
label: Physical Description
content: monochrome, white (component surface decoration color name)
label: Physical Description
content: lines (joint piece description of decoration)
label: Physical Description
content: lines (overall description of decoration)
label: Physical Description
content: ceramic, porcelain, hard-paste (cup material)
label: Physical Description
content: ceramic, porcelain, hard-paste (saucer material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 in x 2 in; 5.08 cm x 5.08 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3/4 in x 4 5/8 in; 1.905 cm x 11.7475 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall saucer: 3/4 in x 4 5/8 in; 1.905 cm x 11.7475 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall teacup: 2 in x 2 3/4 in x 2 1/16 in; 5.08 cm x 6.985 cm x 5.23875 cm
label: Measurements
content: part: tea cup: 2 in x 2 in; 5.08 cm x 5.08 cm
label: Measurements
content: part: saucer: 2 in; x 5.08 cm