About Homer Laughlin China Company: The Homer Laughlin firm was founded in 1871 in Newell, West Virginia by the two brothers, Shakespeare and Homer Laughlin. A long-lived pottery, it survived two world wars and continued until 2020, when it was sold to Steelite, a British tableware manufacturer. Though Homer Laughlin China produced art pottery in its earlier days, it is best known for its Fiesta line, a brightly-colored Art Deco-styled set of tableware that was designed by the noted ceramicist, Frederick Hurten Rhead. Rhead was Homer Laughlin's art director from 1927 until his death in 1942. Fiesta ware is still produced by Fiesta Tableware Company, a division of Steelite. The New York Times called Fiesta “the most collected brand of china in the United States” (Alexander 2002). Homer Laughlin China Company was known for many dinnerware designs and also produced commemorative plates and art pottery vases.
(Alexander, Kelly, 2002.“The Way We Live Now”. The New York Times, December 1.)
About Fiesta Ware and Frederick Hurten Rhead: Frederick Hurten Rhead was born to a ceramics family in Staffordshire, England and emigrated to the United States in 1902 at age 22. He held many positions, working for William P. Jervis at the Vance/Avon Faience Company, Weller Pottery, Rosedale Pottery, and Jervis Pottery, until appointed instructor at the experimental University City Pottery in St. Louis in 1909. Two years later, he joined Arequipa Pottery in California and stayed for two years before organizing Pottery of the Camarata, incorporated as Rhead Pottery, in Santa Barbara in 1914 (Kovel and Kovel1993:158). His refined, simplified designs inspired other potters and became emblematic of the Arts and Crafts movement. Rhead was responsible for designs and glazing, and he assigned throwing to two wheel experts; decoration was also sometimes assigned to other artists. Rhead was inspired by ancient Chinese pottery and the Art Nouveau Movement and often created inlaid and incised designs using scarab, peacock, and landscape scenes (Evans 1987:236). Rhead won a gold medal at the San Diego Exposition of 1915, but his work was not financially successful, and Rhead Pottery closed in 1917. He then returned to Zanesville, Ohio, where he worked at the American Encaustic Tiling Company for ten years and in 1927 became the art director for Homer Laughlin China Company in Newell, West Virginia. With that company, he designed his famous Art Deco Fiesta Ware china line in the 1930s. He stayed there until his death in 1942.
(Evans, Paul, 1987. Art Pottery of the United States. New York: Feingold and Lewis Publishing Corp.; Kovel, Ralph and Terry Kovel, 1993. Kovels’ American Art Pottery: The Collector’s Guide to Makers, Marks and Factory Histories. New York: Crown Publishers.)
About the Object:
Fiesta 7" plate; white-bodied, molded, covered with Turqouise glaze. Original shape.
About Homer Laughlin China Company: The Homer Laughlin firm was founded in 1871 in Newell, West Virginia by the two brothers, Shakespeare and Homer Laughlin. A long-lived pottery, it survived two world wars and continued until 2020, when it was sold to Steelite, a British tableware manufacturer. Though Homer Laughlin China produced art pottery in its earlier days, it is best known for its Fiesta line, a brightly-colored Art Deco-styled set of tableware that was designed by the noted ceramicist, Frederick Hurten Rhead. Rhead was Homer Laughlin's art director from 1927 until his death in 1942. Fiesta ware is still produced by Fiesta Tableware Company, a division of Steelite. The New York Times called Fiesta “the most collected brand of china in the United States” (Alexander 2002). Homer Laughlin China Company was known for many dinnerware designs and also produced commemorative plates and art pottery vases.
(Alexander, Kelly, 2002.“The Way We Live Now”. The New York Times, December 1.)
About Fiesta Ware and Frederick Hurten Rhead: Frederick Hurten Rhead was born to a ceramics family in Staffordshire, England and emigrated to the United States in 1902 at age 22. He held many positions, working for William P. Jervis at the Vance/Avon Faience Company, Weller Pottery, Rosedale Pottery, and Jervis Pottery, until appointed instructor at the experimental University City Pottery in St. Louis in 1909. Two years later, he joined Arequipa Pottery in California and stayed for two years before organizing Pottery of the Camarata, incorporated as Rhead Pottery, in Santa Barbara in 1914 (Kovel and Kovel1993:158). His refined, simplified designs inspired other potters and became emblematic of the Arts and Crafts movement. Rhead was responsible for designs and glazing, and he assigned throwing to two wheel experts; decoration was also sometimes assigned to other artists. Rhead was inspired by ancient Chinese pottery and the Art Nouveau Movement and often created inlaid and incised designs using scarab, peacock, and landscape scenes (Evans 1987:236). Rhead won a gold medal at the San Diego Exposition of 1915, but his work was not financially successful, and Rhead Pottery closed in 1917. He then returned to Zanesville, Ohio, where he worked at the American Encaustic Tiling Company for ten years and in 1927 became the art director for Homer Laughlin China Company in Newell, West Virginia. With that company, he designed his famous Art Deco Fiesta Ware china line in the 1930s. He stayed there until his death in 1942.
(Evans, Paul, 1987. Art Pottery of the United States. New York: Feingold and Lewis Publishing Corp.; Kovel, Ralph and Terry Kovel, 1993. Kovels’ American Art Pottery: The Collector’s Guide to Makers, Marks and Factory Histories. New York: Crown Publishers.)
About the Object:
Fiesta nine inch plate; white-bodied, molded, covered with bright yellow glaze. Original shape and color.
About Homer Laughlin China Company: The Homer Laughlin firm was founded in 1871 in Newell, West Virginia by the two brothers, Shakespeare and Homer Laughlin. A long-lived pottery, it survived two world wars and continued until 2020, when it was sold to Steelite, a British tableware manufacturer. Though Homer Laughlin China produced art pottery in its earlier days, it is best known for its Fiesta line, a brightly-colored Art Deco-styled set of tableware that was designed by the noted ceramicist, Frederick Hurten Rhead. Rhead was Homer Laughlin's art director from 1927 until his death in 1942. Fiesta ware is still produced by Fiesta Tableware Company, a division of Steelite. The New York Times called Fiesta “the most collected brand of china in the United States” (Alexander 2002). Homer Laughlin China Company was known for many dinnerware designs and also produced commemorative plates and art pottery vases.
(Alexander, Kelly, 2002.“The Way We Live Now”. The New York Times, December 1.)
About Fiesta Ware and Frederick Hurten Rhead: Frederick Hurten Rhead was born to a ceramics family in Staffordshire, England and emigrated to the United States in 1902 at age 22. He held many positions, working for William P. Jervis at the Vance/Avon Faience Company, Weller Pottery, Rosedale Pottery, and Jervis Pottery, until appointed instructor at the experimental University City Pottery in St. Louis in 1909. Two years later, he joined Arequipa Pottery in California and stayed for two years before organizing Pottery of the Camarata, incorporated as Rhead Pottery, in Santa Barbara in 1914 (Kovel and Kovel1993:158). His refined, simplified designs inspired other potters and became emblematic of the Arts and Crafts movement. Rhead was responsible for designs and glazing, and he assigned throwing to two wheel experts; decoration was also sometimes assigned to other artists. Rhead was inspired by ancient Chinese pottery and the Art Nouveau Movement and often created inlaid and incised designs using scarab, peacock, and landscape scenes (Evans 1987:236). Rhead won a gold medal at the San Diego Exposition of 1915, but his work was not financially successful, and Rhead Pottery closed in 1917. He then returned to Zanesville, Ohio, where he worked at the American Encaustic Tiling Company for ten years and in 1927 became the art director for Homer Laughlin China Company in Newell, West Virginia. With that company, he designed his famous Art Deco Fiesta Ware china line in the 1930s. He stayed there until his death in 1942.
(Evans, Paul, 1987. Art Pottery of the United States. New York: Feingold and Lewis Publishing Corp.; Kovel, Ralph and Terry Kovel, 1993. Kovels’ American Art Pottery: The Collector’s Guide to Makers, Marks and Factory Histories. New York: Crown Publishers.)
About the Object:
Fiesta 7" plate; white-bodied, molded, covered with cobalt Blue glaze. Original shape, original color.
This engraved printing plate was prepared to print an image showing three species of shark in the never published Volume 21-22, Ichthyology, part of the series of publications the "United States Exploring Expedition, During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842." The plate images were engraved by W. H. Dougal after Joseph Drayton.
Description
William H. Dougal (1822–1895) of New York and Washington, D.C., (after 1844) engraved this copper printing plate depicting three species of shark documented by the U.S. Exploring Expedition. The engraved illustrations were to be published in volumes XXII and XXIII, Ichthyology, by Louis Agassiz. Dougal engraved 26 of the 28 plates for this volume which was never printed.
This engraved printing plate was prepared to print an image of "Scolopax meridionalis, Zapornia umbrina" (now Galinago shicklandii - Cordilleran snipe and Porzana porzana - Spotted Crake) for the publication "United States Exploring Expedition, During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842," Volume 8, Mammalogy and Ornithology, plate 35, in the edition Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1858. The engraving was produced by W. H. Dougal after W. E. Hitchcock.
Description
William H. Dougal (1822–1895) of New York and Washington, D.C. (after 1844) engraved this copper printing plate after drawings by William E. Hitchcock. The image depicts the Scolopax meridionalis (now Galinago shicklandii, or Cordilleran snipe) and Zapornia umbrina (now Porzana porzana, or Spotted Crake). The engraved illustration was published as Plate 35 in Volume VIII, Mammalogy and Ornithology, by John Cassin, 1858.
Single-reeded plate with shallow flat well scored once near booge; no foot ring. Underside of well struck twice with touchmark of Ebenezer Southmayd, consisting of a three-masted sailing ship above the raised roman letters "ES"; "Jn Buell" faintly inscribed in script on underside of rim to left of marks.
Maker is Ebenezer Southmayd (1775-1831); working in Middletown, CT, ca. 1797-1802, and Castleton, VT, ca. 1802-1831.
About Homer Laughlin China Company: The Homer Laughlin firm was founded in 1871 in Newell, West Virginia by the two brothers, Shakespeare and Homer Laughlin. A long-lived pottery, it survived two world wars and continued until 2020, when it was sold to Steelite, a British tableware manufacturer. Though Homer Laughlin China produced art pottery in its earlier days, it is best known for its Fiesta line, a brightly-colored Art Deco-styled set of tableware that was designed by the noted ceramicist, Frederick Hurten Rhead. Rhead was Homer Laughlin's art director from 1927 until his death in 1942. Fiesta ware is still produced by Fiesta Tableware Company, a division of Steelite. The New York Times called Fiesta “the most collected brand of china in the United States” (Alexander 2002). Homer Laughlin China Company was known for many dinnerware designs and also produced commemorative plates and art pottery vases.
(Alexander, Kelly, 2002.“The Way We Live Now”. The New York Times, December 1.)
About the Object:
White-bodied molded earthenware plate. Round shape with shallow well and wide marli. Border decorated with narrow molded band. Covered overall with clear, shiny glaze. Face of plate decorated with overglaze decals depicting 7 groups of violets and leaves in various sizes, in purples and greens. Rim decorated in gold. Nosegay design. Attached paper labels indicate projected Sears distribution: Nosegay; 20 pc. set - $7.50 (S.P.); Basic 5 year plan; 53 pc. set - $24.95 (S.P.); projection in dozen=21,402.