Pitcher, "Washington and the Patriots of America"
notes: label: Description
content: This creamware pitcher is decorated with a transfer-print titled “The Memory of WASHINGTON and the Proscribed PATRIOTS of AMERICA / Liberty, Virtue, Peace, Justice, and Equity to ALL Mankind.” The print is a central medallion with a background of a monument honoring Washington, a beehive, and a cornucopia. Inset in the medal are two portraits of Samuel Adams and John Hancock, respectively labeled “S A” and “J H.” Under the medallion reads “Columbias Sons inspir’d by Freedoms Flame / Live in the Annals of immortal Fame.” The other side of the pitcher is decorated with a medallion transfer print with a background of the sea with ships in a harbor while an American soldier in Continental uniform stands under an American flag next to a cannon and cannonball stack in the foreground. The rim of the medallion reads “Success to AMERICA whose MILITIA is better than Standing ARMIES / May its Citizens Emulate Soldiers And its Soldiers HEROES.” Depicted under the spout is an American merchant ship under sail with a banner that “Success to Trade.” Under the handle is a print of the allegory of fame sounding a trumpet. This pitcher features brilliant polychrome images. According to <i>Success to America: Creamware for the American Market</i>, the pitcher can be attributed to Francis Shelton in Staffordshire County, England. Robert H. McCauley purchased this pitcher on August 5, 1938 for $100.00 from Joseph Kindig, Jr. of York, PA as part of the William Randolph Hearst Collection.
label: Description
content: This pitcher is part of the McCauley collection of American themed transfer print pottery. There is no mark on the pitcher 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.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United Kingdom: England, Staffordshire
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Ceramics and Glass
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content: Government, Politics, and Reform
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content: Domestic Furnishings
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content: McCauley Liverpool Pottery
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Robert H. McCauley
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: CE.63.087
label: catalog number
content: 63.087
label: accession number
content: 248881
label: collector/donor number
content: 323
objectType: label: Object Name
content: pitcher
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: polychrome (overall surface decoration color name)
label: Physical Description
content: ceramic, earthenware, refined (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: transfer printed (overall production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 11 5/16 in x 11 in x 7 3/4 in; 28.73375 cm x 27.94 cm x 19.685 cm