Union Porcelain Works Figure Group
date: label: Date made
content: late 1800s
label: date made
content: 1880s
notes: label: Description
content: This parian, or unglazed porcelain, figure group was made around the 1880s by Union Porcelain Works of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York. The firm was established around 1861 by Thomas Carll Smith (1815-1900), a successful business man; banker; and the President of the Georgia Alabama Investment and Development Company, involved in such concerns as local railroad building. Union Porcelain Works produced electrical insulators and porcelain house trimmings, but found its greatest success in fine porcelain dining and decorative wares. The company operated until about 1922, making it one of the longest operating porcelain factories in the United States.
label: Description
content: The statuette consists figure whih seems to represnt a male caucasian wearing a Liberty cap seated beside a large eagle in a nest, seeming to hold down a figure that appears to represnt an
label: Description
content: African American male. A third figure that appears t orepresent a Chinese male is either attempting to climb into or is falling from the nest. No documentation has been found to shed light on the meaning of this startling figure group, or to suggest why or for whom it was made.
label: Description
content: Large numbers of Chinese immigrants began moving to the eastern United States in the 1870s. By 1880, a local newspaper estimated that 1,000 Chinese lived in Brooklyn, where the Unions Porcelain Works factory was located, making it one of the largest Chinese populations on the East Coast. While local community response to this influx was mixed, prejudice toward the newcomers was common. It is possible that the quite conservative Thomas Carll Smith responded to the changing demographics in his own back yard by encouraging the creation of ceramic pieces that have negative connotations regarding the Chinese.
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, Brooklyn, Greenpoint
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Ceramics and Glass
label: See more items in
content: Art
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content: Domestic Furnishings
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content: Many Voices, One Nation
label: Exhibition
content: Many Voices, One Nation
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Mrs. Franklin Chace
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: CE.75.122
label: catalog number
content: 75.122
label: accession number
content: 317832
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Figure Group
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: ceramic, porcelain, hard-paste (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 11 1/8 in x 8 in; 28.2575 cm x 20.32 cm