Whitall, Tatum and Company Paperweight
- Description (Brief)
- In the 1700s, paperweights made from textured stone or bronze were part of the writer’s tool kit, which also included a quill pen and stand, inkpot, and blotter. By the mid-1800s, decorative paperweights produced by glassmakers in Europe and the United States became highly desired collectibles.
- Decorative glass paperweights reflected the 19th-century taste for intricate, over-the-top designs. Until the spread of textiles colorized with synthetic dyes, ceramics and glass were among the few objects that added brilliant color to a 19th-century Victorian interior. The popularity of these paperweights in the 1800s testifies to the sustained cultural interest in hand craftsmanship during an age of rapid industrialization.
- Whitall, Tatum & Company of Millville, New Jersey was formed in 1901 and employed first rate craftsmen who created outstanding paperweights.
- This Whitall, Tatum and Company clear glass paperweight features a three-masted white frit clipper ship. Frit work is the act of fusing powdered glass to create an image or scene, as in the paper-thin ship in this paperweight.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- paperweight
- date made
- ca 1900
- maker
- Whitall, Tatum and Company
- Physical Description
- glass, transparent (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 2 in x 3 3/4 in; 5.08 cm x 9.525 cm
- place made
- United States: New Jersey, Millville
- ID Number
- CE*60.104
- catalog number
- 60.104
- accession number
- 211475
- subject
- Paperweights
- Art
- Domestic Furnishings
- See more items in
- Home and Community Life: Ceramics and Glass
- Paperweights
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- Credit Line
- Aaron and Lillie Straus
Visitor Comments