Large, single-reeded circular dish with a chased and repoussé depiction of Saint John the Baptist baptizing Jesus Christ in the River Jordan as five disciples watch at left, and God the Father and the Holy Spirit appear in the heavens above. Rim has four running punch work borders of sawtooth arches, flowers, scrolls, and geometric motifs; well perimeter bordered by concentric ovals. Underside struck with at least five marks before plate was decorated, a circular touch mark stamped twice containing a leafy cross motif with "P", "G", "16", and "65" in the four corners; a partial circular stamp of an undecipherable, possibly winged, human figure; a partial circular stamp of a Tudor rose with "16(60?)" above; and a barely visible, partial, circular stamp (in Christ's body) with "STR" in border. "A" is scratched at center outside.
Multiple-reeded circular dish wih shallow flat well; no foot ring. Rim face struck at top with the incuse roman letters "M F" and along bottom four times with the touchmark of Edmund Dolbeare, consisting of the raised roman letters "E.D" above four stars in a small five-pointed shield; both all marks face well. Large flecked script letters "LA" engraved on underside of well. Overall hammer marks; excellent condition.
Maker is Edmund Dolbeare (1644-ca. 1711) of Ashburton, Devonshire, England, who emigrated to Boston by 1671; he worked there until 1684, then in Salem, 1684-1693, and again in Boston, 1706-1711. Edmund Dolbeare was among the earliest pewterers in America and believed to be the first in Boston. His two eldest sons, John Dolbeare (1669-1740) and Joseph Dolbeare (b. ca. 1672) were also pewterers.
Single-reeded circular dish with deep, rounded booge and flat well; no foot ring. Underside of well struck twice with the tombstone-shaped crowned Tudor rose touchmark of Peter Young above four pseudo hallmarks (left to right): a right-facing lion rampant, four-petaled rose, right-facing standing bird, and raised serif letters "PY", all in squares; "IKK" engraved above bird. Good planishing marks on underside of booge.
Single-reeded circular dish with curved booge and flat well, both scored with several lines around perimeter; no foot ring. Six marks on underside, struck twice with the lion-in-gateway touch mark of John Danforth above four pseudo hallmarks (left to right), the raised serif letters "ID", lion's head erased, Britannia seated and sword pointing up, all in rounded rectangles.
Maker is John Danforth (1741-1799) of Norwich, CT; working circa 1773-1793.
(DATA SOURCE: National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center)
MARKS: Crossed swords in underglaze blue; “26” impressed.
PURCHASED FROM: Adolf Beckhardt, The Art Exchange, New York, 1943.
This leaf dish is from the Smithsonian’s Hans Syz Collection of Meissen Porcelain 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 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.
The leaf-shaped dish with a molded interior has a design of a butterfly on a flowering branch with two more sprays of flowers and a smaller insect in the center. The brown rim line seen on this leaf dish is characteristic of Japanese Kakiemon porcelain and it is an iron rich glaze that may have been adopted from Chinese blue and white porcelain of the late Ming dynasty (1368-1644); known as fuchibeni it is also thought to be a technique for protecting thin porcelain rims from chipping. The origin of this pattern comes from Chinese famille verte porcelain of the K’ang-Hsi period (1662-1722) but it is painted in the style of Japanese Kakiemon porcelain, and is probably a Meissen adaptation of Far Eastern models. A large dinner service decorated with the “butterfly pattern” (Schmetterlingsmuster or decor) is listed in the inventory for the Hubertusburg hunting lodge where Augustus III, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland liked to hold court entertainments.
Kakiemon is the name given to very white (nigoshida meaning milky-white) finely potted Japanese porcelain made in the Nangawara Valley near the town of Arita in the North-West of the island of Kyushu. The porcelain bears a characteristic style of enamel painting using a palette of translucent colors painted with refined assymetric designs attributed to a family of painters with the name Kakiemon. In the 1650s, when Chinese porcelain was in short supply due to civil unrest following the fall of the Ming Dynasty to the Manchu in 1644, Arita porcelain was at first exported to Europe through the Dutch East India Company’s base on the island of Dejima in the Bay of Nagasaki. The Japanese traded Arita porcelain only with Chinese, Korean, and Dutch merchants and the Chinese resold Japanese porcelain to the Dutch in Batavia (present day Jakarta), to the English and French at the port of Canton (present day Guangzhou) and Amoy (present day Xiamen). Augustus II, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, obtained Japanese porcelain through his agents operating in Amsterdam who purchased items from Dutch merchants, and from a Dutch dealer in Dresden, Elizabeth Bassetouche.
On the butterfly pattern see Weber, J., 2013, Meissener Pozellane mit Dekoren nach ostasiatischen Vorbildern: Stiftung Ernst Schneider in Schloss Lustheim, pp. 344-356; Pietsch, U., 2011, Early Meissen Porcelain: the Wark Collection from the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, pp.252-253.
On the Japanese Kakiemon style and its European imitators see Impey, O., Jörg, J. A., Mason, C., 2009, Dragons, Tigers and Bamboo: Japanese Porcelain and its Impact in Europe, the Macdonald Collection; Ayers, J., Impey, O., Mallet, J.V.G., 1990, Porcelain for Palaces: the fashion for Japan in Europe 1650-1750; Takeshi Nagataki, 2003, Classic Japanese Porcelain: Imari and Kakiemon.
On the impact of Chinese porcelain in a global context see Robert Finlay, 2010, The Pilgrim Art: Cultures of Porcelain in World History.
Jefferson Miller II, J., Rückert, R., Syz, H., 1979, Catalogue of the Hans Syz Collection: Meissen Porcelain and Hausmalerei, pp. 170-171.
Small, Art Nouveau, repoussé chased pentagonal dish with slightly convex, cinquefoil well; no footring. Flared sides and everted rim with downturned edge are segmented by five sinuous ribbons overrun by a wreath of wild roses open at one corner, leaving an empty reserve. No monogram. Underside of well struck incuse with circular mark for "THE VAN BERGH S.P.CO. (arched) / ROCHESTER, NY (curved)" enclosing "QUADRUPLE / PLATE", and "5353" below. From a 7-piece set (one large and six small dishes) for serving bonbons ("sweets") or nuts, 1989.0184.11-.17.
Single-reeded circular dish with narrow rim and deep, flat well scored near tapered booge; no foot ring. Underside of well struck twice with circular touchmark of Daniel Curtiss, both partial, consisting of his name in a reserve above a two-handled covered urn or cup on textured ground; secondary mark of an incuse "X" at center.
Maker is Daniel Curtiss (1799-1872) of Albany, NY; working 1822-1840.