Domestic Furnishings

Tiffany Floor Lamp

Washboards, armchairs, lamps, and pots and pans may not seem to be museum pieces. But they are invaluable evidence of how most people lived day to day, last week or three centuries ago. The Museum's collections of domestic furnishings comprise more than 40,000 artifacts from American households. Large and small, they include four houses, roughly 800 pieces of furniture, fireplace equipment, spinning wheels, ceramics and glass, family portraits, and much more.

The Arthur and Edna Greenwood Collection contains more than 2,000 objects from New England households from colonial times to mid-1800s. From kitchens of the past, the collections hold some 3,300 artifacts, ranging from refrigerators to spatulas. The lighting devices alone number roughly 3,000 lamps, candleholders, and lanterns.

Resource Type: Bowls (vessels)

Bowl

This transfer printed creamware bowl is decorated with an interior print of John Hancock and exterior prints of pastoral scenes.
Description
This transfer printed creamware bowl is decorated with an interior print of John Hancock and exterior prints of pastoral scenes. John Hancock is facing left in his portrait, on a ribbon below are the words “The Honourable John Hancock.”
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
ID Number
CE.63.129
catalog number
63.129
accession number
248619
collector/donor number
47-371

Bowl

This transfer-printed creamware bowl was made by Fletcher Shelton of Staffordshire, England during the early 1800s. The interior base of the bowl depicts an American sailing ship.
Description
This transfer-printed creamware bowl was made by Fletcher Shelton of Staffordshire, England during the early 1800s. The interior base of the bowl depicts an American sailing ship. On the outside of the bowl are three transfer prints—two of George Washington and one of a boat on a canal. The first depicts George Washington stepping on a lion, representing his defeat of Great Britain. Second is a portrait of George Washington flanked by the allegorical figures of Liberty and Justice. Justice proclaims, -“Deafness to the Ear that will patiently hear & Dumbness to the tongue that will utter a Calumny against the immortal Washington.” Liberty is pointing to Washington as she says, “My Favorite Son.” Below the portrait is the statement, “Long live the president of the United States.” Both maritime designs and celebrations of George Washington are common themes on Liverpool creamware. Robert H. McCauley purchased this bowl from Sara B. Clutz of Gettysburg, PA on July 13, 1940 for $55.00.
This bowl 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.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
CE.63.116
catalog number
63.116
accession number
252565
collector/donor number
389

Bowl

This creamware bowl was made by Thomas Fell & Company of Newcastle, England around 1809.
Description
This creamware bowl was made by Thomas Fell & Company of Newcastle, England around 1809. The interior of the bowl depicts the a spread-winged eagle holding an olive branch in one talon and arrows in another, a scroll reading “E Pluribus Unum” in its beak, fifteen stars above it, with the U.S. shield at its chest. The exterior of the bowl is decorated with transfer printed oval portraits of United States Naval Commodores including John Paul Jones, Esek Hopkins, John Barry, and William Bainbridge.
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
maker
Thomas Fell and Company
ID Number
CE.63.135
catalog number
63.135
accession number
248619
collector/donor number
51-382

Meissen porcelain rinsing bowl (hausmaler)

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1725-735
maker
Meissen Manufactory
ID Number
CE.P-752
catalog number
P-752
accession number
225282

Bowl

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Stubbs, Joseph
ID Number
CE.62.918B
catalog number
62.918B
accession number
171126

Wash Bowl

Large, circular bowl with wide, everted rim on slightly flared, seamed foot; cast ribbing applied at rim and gadrooning at foot. Armorial device engraved on bowl exterior consists of the coronet of a Spanish marquess above an oval escutcheon with quartered coat of arms.
Description
Large, circular bowl with wide, everted rim on slightly flared, seamed foot; cast ribbing applied at rim and gadrooning at foot. Armorial device engraved on bowl exterior consists of the coronet of a Spanish marquess above an oval escutcheon with quartered coat of arms. Underside of rounded bottom is struck twice with two marks around centerpunch: "H.I.PEPPER" in raised serif letters in a rectangle stamped on opposite sides facing inwards, and "PHILAD\A" in raised serif letters in a serrated rectangle on the other two sides facing inward; "60/13" scratched twice near marks. Part of set, DL*59.2201A-B.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1830
ID Number
DL.59.2201A
catalog number
59.2201A
accession number
70138

Bowl

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
CE.62.966
catalog number
62.966
accession number
171126

Bowl

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Mellor, Venables and Company
ID Number
CE.62.956K
catalog number
62.956K
accession number
171126

Chinese reticulated bowl

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1662-1700
ID Number
CE.P-463
catalog number
P-463
accession number
225282

bowl

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1800
19th century
ID Number
1983.0770.03
accession number
1983.0770
catalog number
1983.0770.03

bowl

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c. 1910-1918
maker
Northwood Glass Company
ID Number
CE.73.98
catalog number
73.98
accession number
309646

Bowl

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
William Ridgway and Company
ID Number
CE.62.912I
catalog number
62.912I
accession number
171126
label number
L204

Bowl

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
William Adams & Sons
ID Number
CE.62.934O
catalog number
62.934O
accession number
171126

Bowl

Raised circular bowl engraved "WCW" in conjoined foliate script on a step-molded pedestal base. Rounded lower body rises to an incurved neck and convex or quarter-round shoulder. Applied gadrooning around rim and side of circular foot.
Description
Raised circular bowl engraved "WCW" in conjoined foliate script on a step-molded pedestal base. Rounded lower body rises to an incurved neck and convex or quarter-round shoulder. Applied gadrooning around rim and side of circular foot. Underside of rounded bottom struck once above centerpoint "W.Thoms[on]" in rectangle.
Maker is William Thomson of New York, NY; w. 1810-1845.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1825
ID Number
DL.60.1684
catalog number
60.1684
accession number
57226

Bowl

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
William Davenport and Company
ID Number
CE.62.948C
catalog number
62.948C
accession number
171126

Vienna porcelain rinsing bowl (part of a service)

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1816
ID Number
CE.P-518E
catalog number
P-518E
accession number
225282

Meissen bowl

TITLE: Meissen rinsing bowl (Hausmaler)MAKER: Meissen ManufactoryPHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: ceramic, porcelain, hard paste (overall material)MEASUREMENTS: H. 3" 7.6cm; D.
Description
TITLE: Meissen rinsing bowl (Hausmaler)
MAKER: Meissen Manufactory
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: ceramic, porcelain, hard paste (overall material)
MEASUREMENTS: H. 3" 7.6cm; D. 6" 15.3cm.
OBJECT NAME: Bowl
PLACE MADE: Meissen, Saxony, Germany
DATE MADE: 1740, Meissen
SUBJECT: The Hans Syz Collection
Art
Domestic Furnishing
Industry and Manufacturing
CREDIT LINE: Hans C. Syz Collection
ID NUMBER: 1979.0120.12
COLLECTOR/ DONOR: 58
ACCESSION NUMBER:
(DATA SOURCE: National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center)
MARKS: Crossed swords in underglaze blue; “I” impressed.
PURCHASED FROM: Adolf Beckhardt, The Art Exchange, New York, 1941.
This rinsing bowl is from the Smithsonian’s Hans Syz Collection of Meissen Porcelain. Dr. Syz (1894-1991) began his collection in the early years of World War II, when he purchased eighteenth-century Meissen table wares from the Art Exchange run by the New York dealer Adolf Beckhardt (1889-1962). Dr. Syz, a Swiss immigrant to the United States, collected Meissen porcelain while engaged in a professional career in psychiatry and the research of human behavior. He believed that cultural artifacts have an important role to play in enhancing our awareness and understanding of human creativity and its communication among peoples. His collection grew to represent this conviction.
The invention of Meissen porcelain, declared over three hundred years ago early in 1709, was a collective achievement that represents an early modern precursor to industrial chemistry and materials science. The porcelains we see in our museum collections, made in the small town of Meissen in Germany, were the result of an intense period of empirical research. Generally associated with artistic achievement of a high order, Meissen porcelain was also a technological achievement in the development of inorganic, non-metallic materials.
The bowl was made in the Meissen manufactory but painted outside by an independent artist. Hausmalerei is a German word that means in literal translation ‘home painting’, and it refers to the practice of painting enamels and gold onto the surface of blank ceramics and glass in workshops outside the manufactory of origin. Beginning in the seventeenth century the work of the Hausmaler varied in quality from the outstanding workshops of Nuremberg, Augsburg, and Breslau (now Wroclaw in Poland), to the less skilled efforts of amateur artists. Early Meissen porcelain was sought after for this purpose, and wealthy patrons of local enameling and gilding workshops purchased undecorated porcelain, often of out-moded or inferior quality, which was then enameled with subjects of their choice. Hausmalerei was at first acceptable to the early porcelain manufactories like Meissen and Vienna, and Meissen sent blank porcelain to Augsburg workshops for decoration, but as the market became more competitive they tried to eradicate the practice. It was a temptation for Meissen porcelain painters to take on extra work as Hausmaler to augment their low pay, and the manufactory cautioned or imprisoned them if Hausmalerei activity was suspected or discovered.
Between prunus blossoms in relief on the outside of the bowl are flowers painted in the woodcut style (Holzschnittblumen) after the manner of botanical illustration. The interior of the bowl has an entirely different image of a woman on horseback in conversation with a man who directs her on her way. The origin of the subject lies in the numerous genre prints after the work of Dutch artists, many of them active in the seventeenth century. The bowl was painted in the mid-eighteenth century in the workshop of Franz Ferdinand Mayer of Pressnitz Bohemia (now Přísečnice in the Czech Republic).
On Hausmaler see Ulrich Pietsch, 2011, Early Meissen Porcelain: The Wark Collection from The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, pp. 43-46; Gustav E. Pazaurek, 1925, Deutsche Fayence und Porzellan Hausmaler.
Hans Syz, J. Jefferson Miller II, Rainer Rückert, 1979, Catalogue of the Hans Syz Collection: Meissen Porcelain and Hausmalerei, pp. 538-539.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1740
1740
maker
Meissen Manufactory
ID Number
1979.0120.12
catalog number
1979.0120.12
accession number
1979.0120
collector/donor number
58

Bowl

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
CE.62.995E
catalog number
62.995E
accession number
171126

Tiffany vase

Favrile glass. Made of common amber bottle glass covered with mirror-like coating of blue clouded with a smoky yellow which has iridescent changes. Form: Lower part of body has concave glare with a sloping shoulder and short large cylindrical neck. 5/5/52 broken in half.
Description (Brief)
Favrile glass. Made of common amber bottle glass covered with mirror-like coating of blue clouded with a smoky yellow which has iridescent changes. Form: Lower part of body has concave glare with a sloping shoulder and short large cylindrical neck. 5/5/52 broken in half. Purchased from Charles Tiffany, $10.00.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1893 - 96
maker
Tiffany Glass & Decorating Company, or Tiffany Studios
ID Number
CE.96428
catalog number
96428
accession number
30453
maker number
5590

Paris porcelain compote (part of a service)

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca. 1820
ID Number
CE.P-576E
catalog number
P-576E
accession number
225282

Meissen porcelain rinsing bowl

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1763-1774
maker
Meissen Manufactory
ID Number
CE.P-715A
catalog number
P-715A
accession number
225282

Bowl

Circular bowl with cast rim of intertwined wild rose branches, rounded sides that straighten at base, and boss bottom with flat gutter; no foot ring. Gilt-washed interior.
Description
Circular bowl with cast rim of intertwined wild rose branches, rounded sides that straighten at base, and boss bottom with flat gutter; no foot ring. Gilt-washed interior. Bottom underside struck incuse with two sets of marks facing inward, an "L" in crescent motif above "J.E.CALDWELL & Co" and "STERLING" above "433"; "16710" is scratched to left of L-and-crescent mark. One of two bowls, DL*61.0315A-B.
Probably made by Lebkuecher & Co. (Arthur E. Lebkuecher, Frank A. Lebkuecher, and Charles C. Wientge), of Newark, NJ, 1896-1918 (named Francis A. Lebkuecher & Co.,1912-1918) for retail by J.E. Caldwell & Co. of Philadelphia, PA; business founded in 1839 by James Emmot Caldwell but name and mark adopted 1848. Lebkuecher was acquired by The Eleder Co. in 1918, which became the Eleder-Hickok Co. in 1922, also located in Newark. Eleder-Hickok used the Lebkuecher mark as its own until it merged in the mid 1930s with the Matthews Co. to become Hickok-Matthews Co.; mark apparently discontinued at that time.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
ID Number
DL.61.0315B
catalog number
61.0315B
accession number
200122

Bowl

This small creamware bowl is decorated with several transfer prints. The exterior of the bowl features four prints, the first two are portrait images of Benjamin Franklin and George Washington on opposite sides of the bowl.
Description
This small creamware bowl is decorated with several transfer prints. The exterior of the bowl features four prints, the first two are portrait images of Benjamin Franklin and George Washington on opposite sides of the bowl. The third print is a vignette of a lady and a sailor while the fourth print features a short ditty: “Long may we live./happy may we be./blest with content/ and from misfortunes free.”vThe bottom of the bowl features a transfer print of the battle between the French frigate L’Insurgent and the American frigate Constellation.
This bowl 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.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
CE.63.085
catalog number
63.085
accession number
248881
collector/donor number
316

Meissen underglaze blue rinsing bowl

MARKS: Crossed swords and “13” in underglaze blue; “3” incised.PURCHASED FROM: Adolf Beckhardt, The Art Exchange, New York, 1947.This rinsing bowl is from the Smithsonian’s Hans Syz Collection of Meissen Porcelain. Dr.
Description
MARKS: Crossed swords and “13” in underglaze blue; “3” incised.
PURCHASED FROM: Adolf Beckhardt, The Art Exchange, New York, 1947.
This rinsing bowl is from the Smithsonian’s Hans Syz Collection of Meissen Porcelain. Dr. Syz (1894-1991) began his collection in the early years of World War II, when he purchased eighteenth-century Meissen table wares from the Art Exchange run by the collector and dealer Adolf Beckhardt (1889-1962). Dr. Syz, a Swiss immigrant to the United States, collected Meissen porcelain while engaged in a professional career in psychoanalysis and the research of human behavior. He believed that cultural artifacts have an important role to play in enhancing our awareness and understanding of human creativity and its communication among peoples. His collection grew to represent this conviction.
The invention of Meissen porcelain, declared over three hundred years ago early in 1709, was a collective achievement that represents an early modern precursor to industrial chemistry and materials science. The porcelains we see in our museum collections, made in the small town of Meissen in the German States, were the result of an intense period of empirical research. Generally associated with artistic achievement of a high order, Meissen porcelain was also a technological achievement in the development of inorganic, non-metallic materials.
Early in Meissen’s history Johann Friedrich Böttger’s team searched for success in underglaze blue painting in imitation of the Chinese and Japanese prototypes in the Dresden collections. Böttger’s porcelain, however, was fired at a temperature higher than Chinese porcelain or German stoneware. As in China, the underglaze blue was painted on the clay surface before firing, but when glazed and fired the cobalt sank into the porcelain body and ran into the glaze instead of maintaining a clear image like the Chinese cobalt blue painted porcelains. The Elector of Saxony and King of Poland Augustus II was not satisfied with the inferior product. Success in underglaze blue painting eluded Böttger’s team until Johann Gregor Höroldt (1696-1775) appropriated a workable formula developed by the metallurgist David Köhler (1673-1723). Success required adjustment to the porcelain paste by replacing the alabaster flux with feldspar and adding a percentage of porcelain clay (kaolin) to the cobalt pigment. Underglaze blue painting became a reliable and substantial part of the manufactory’s output in the 1730s.
Meissen introduced the “strawflower pattern” (Strohblumenmuster) as a simplified design based on Far Eastern floral prototypes in the 1740s. It was less expensive to produce and was popular with middle-class consumers. Much imitated by other manufactories it is now associated with the Danish Royal Copenhagen manufactory. The pattern is applied over molded ribbing which is usually found on the interior or exterior of vessels with the “strawflower”design.
The bowl was part of a tea service and its function was to collect the rinsing water from a tea bowl or cup before replenishing with fresh tea.
On underglaze blue painting at Meissen see Pietsch, U., Banz, C., 2010, Triumph of the Blue Swords: Meissen Porcelain for Aristocracy and Bourgoisie 1710-1815, pp. 22-23.
J. Carswell, 1985, Blue and White: Chinese Porcelain and its impact on the Western World.
Hans Syz, J. Jefferson Miller II, Rainer Rückert, 1979, Catalogue of the Hans Syz Collection: Meissen Porcelain and Hausmalerei, pp. 260-261.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
second half of the 18th century
maker
Meissen Manufactory
ID Number
1987.0896.01
catalog number
1987.0896.01
accession number
1987.0896
collector/donor number
606

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