Patent model (U.S. Patent No. 34,726) of a portable bake oven, made by George W. Ayres of Rahway, NJ, and patented on March 18, 1862. Consists of a double-shelled, round-arched body with door at one end on a flat, hollow base containing two furnaces or fireboxes with perforated sides, one running the width of each end, and a diagonal reflector between them. The inner shell is a flue surrounding the oven with two chimneys of smoke pipes. The outer shell is an insulating cavity to be filled with sand; openings for filling and emptying its contents are at the middle of each side. No marks on object, but paper tags tied with red wove ribbon to one smoke pipe and stored with object are printed and handwritten with patent information and object numbers.
Electric percolator, green molded plastic body and lid, with removable interior metal (aluminum) parts. Pitcher, (A), straight sides, flared bottom, pointed handle, long, pointed, pocket spout opposite, two prong plug underneath handle, no cord attached or accompanying. Printed in serif and sans serif on front: “OSTER/INSULATED”. “OSTER” oval logo embossed on bottom, underneath embossed: “8 CUP AUTOMATIC/ELECTRIC PERCOLATOR/SERVICE NO./600 WATTS/120 VOLTS/A.C. ONLY/MODEL 622/ALWAYS START WITH COLD WATER/DO NOT IMMERSE BASE IN WATER/DO NOT PLUG IN DRY/JOHN OSTER MANUFACTURING CO./MILWAUKEE, WIS./PATENT NO. D207332”
Lid, (B), is circular, flat, with separate pointed finial in center, clear plastic. Flanged bottom edge.
Bowl, (C) aluminum, cylindrical, flat bottom, with small holes throughout, center column for aluminum main shaft (E). Cover, (D) aluminum, for (C), concentric ribs and holes on top. Coffee grounds would sit inside (C).
US D207332 S, April 4, 1967, John Oster Manufacturing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for “Coffee percolator”
Single-reeded circular dish with flat well incised at perimeter; no foot ring. Underside struck twice with faint rose-and-crown touchmark for Henry Will (only part of crown visible) above pseudo hallmarks, only two of four visible: Britannia or Columbia seated and a leopard's head, both in clipped-corner rectangles; a sword or elongated cross shape stamped in small chevrons is between them.
Maker is Henry Will (circa 1735-1802), working in New York, NY, 1761-1775 and 1783-1793; and Albany, NY, 1775-1783 (fled there at the outset of the Revolution). His father John Will (1696-1774) , who emigrated from Neuwied, Germany and worked in New York, 1752-1774, as well as his brothers Philip (also worked in New York City and Philadelphia, 1763-1787), and William (worked in Philadelphia, 1764-1798), were also pewterers. Henry Will stopped using the rose-and-crown touch upon moving back to New York City after the Revolution.
Slightly tapered, copper-bottom pail with conical liner; large, U-shaped, triangular spout opens to space between liner and pail. Wire bail handle has black-painted wood grip; flat cover is topped by a button knop. Pail is made in five pieces with three vertical folded seams; spout is soldered in place and flat bottom has folded edge. No marks.
The double-wall construction of this pail allows the outer section to be filled with water which can then be heated to keep the contents in the inner container warm.
Set of six dinner knives (1986.531.162-.167) in light brown flannel carrying pouch with individual pockets for each knife (1986.531.247). Straight silver-plated steel blade with rounded tip and “yankee” style bolster fitted into tapered ivory handle with rounded sides and butt. Tang is held in place with single steel pin through side of handle. Blade is scratched, plate is worn, tarnished. Ivory is yellowed, cracked, and crazed.
Blade is stamped: “LAMSON & GOODNOW MFG Co/S. FALLS WORKS”
Maker is Lamson & Goodnow Company, a manufacturer and wholesaler active in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts 1844-present.
Cast, spade-shaped trivet with long hanging handle; design features a fylfot in circle at center with compasses and square at toe and the roman letters "D S" flanked by sprigs of leaves and curved hearts across bottom. Three D-section legs. Groove around perimeter; no railing. No other marks.
Small, heart-shaped padlock with steel shackle, locking mechanism and small key with double circle opening in oval bow. Front of body is stamped incuse "M. W. & CO" in arched roman letters above keyhole. Alms box and padlock DL*245425.0078-.0079 were used together. Maker is Mallory Wheeler & Co., a lock and hardware manufacturer in New Haven, CT, 1834-1913.
Collection boxes have been used for centuries to solicit money for religious institutions and charities. Even those with little to spare might contribute coins anonymously to a strategically placed box. Unfamiliar in some American communities in the 1700s, these boxes became more commonly used in the United States in the 1800s.
Two-handled, squat baluster-shape bowl with cast floral rim and sprig decoration on its body in imitation of bright-cut engraving; flat bottom. C-curve handles have scrolled acanthus sprigs and conical struts. Bottom underside struck incuse with a horizontal-banded circular mark for "BRISTOL (arched) / PLATE CO. (across center in band) / U.S.A. / QUADRUPLE PLATE (curved)" in sans serif letters above "357". From a four-piece tea service, DL*66.0275-.0278.
Plain, cylindrical container with raised bead below collar and a flat, friction-fit cover. Cover and container have vertical soft-soldered lapped seams, while cover top and flat bottom are folded over sides. No marks. Traces of blue japanning on exterior.
The earliest domestic clocks in the American colonies were English-made "lantern" clocks, with brass gear trains held between pillars. Along with fully furnished "best" beds, looking glasses, sofas, silver, and case furniture, such clocks were the household objects consistently assigned the highest monetary value in inventories of possessions.
By the 18th century, the most common style of domestic clock came to look more like a piece of household furniture. A wooden case enclosed the movement, weights, and pendulum. Through a glass window the dial was visible.
In 1769, Pennsylvania clockmaker and millwright Joseph Ellicott completed this complicated tall case clock. On three separate dials, it tells the time and shows the phases of the moon; depicts on an orrery the motions of the sun, moon, and planets; and plays selected twenty-four musical tunes on the hour.
The musical dial on the Ellicott clock allows the listener to choose from twelve pairs of tunes. Each pair includes a short tune and a long one. On the hour only the short tune plays, but every third hour, both play. During a tune, automaton figures at the top of the dial appear to tap their feet in time to the music, and a small dog between them jumps up and down.
Joseph Ellicott moved from the Philadelphia area to Maryland in 1772 and, with his brothers Andrew and John, set up a flour-milling operation in what is now Ellicott City. The clock was a centerpiece in Ellicott family homes for generations.
Who else owned clocks in early America? Clock owners, like the American colonists themselves, were not a homogeneous group. Where a person lived influenced the probability of owning a timepiece. In 1774, for example, New Englanders and Middle Atlantic colonials were equally likely to own a timepiece. In those regions, roughly 13 or 14 adults out of 100 had a clock in their possessions when they died. Among Southern colonists at that time, only about 6 in 100 had a clock.
Single-reeded circular dish with shallow flat well faintly scored around perimeter; no foot ring. Well underside struck with six marks, twice with lion-in-scrolls touch mark of Edward Danforth above four pseudo-hallmarks (left to right): initials "E•D", spreadwing eagle facing left, single star inside circle of twelve stars, and dagger or sword pointing up, all in flat-top, shaped-bottom shield. Possible repair or damage at center of well (almost appears to be five obliterated marks on underside).
Maker is Edward Danforth (1765-1830) of Middletown and Hartford, CT; active, 1786-1799. Apprenticed with his father, Thomas Danforth II (1731-1782), and then his brothers Joseph and Thomas Danforth in Middletown; relocated in 1786 to Hartford, where, after 1799, he did more business as a general merchant, selling wares by Samuel Danforth and Thomas Danforth Boardman, than as a pewterer.
Before becoming an international phenomenon, the Arts and Crafts movement began with the ideas of British artisan William Morris (1834-1896) and writer John Ruskin (1819-1900). Morris and Ruskin believed that the growth of cities isolated urban workers and that mass production negatively affected artisan crafts. They proposed to solve these issues by returning to a medieval-inspired village model where everybody participated in a community lifestyle. In the United States, artisans adapted these ideas into the studio art pottery movement. Unlike their British counterparts, who often focused predominantly on social issues and therefore made objects that incorporated Gothic and Renaissance motifs, American craftsmen developed a cohesive and novel aesthetic.
Rookwood developed a matte glaze around 1900 to compete with the forest-green hues of the popular Grueby Faience Company. Unlike Grueby’s glaze, which appears waxy and leafy, Rookwood’s interpretation often uses pastel tones with a vellum-like finish. The transition from Rookwood’s earlier “standard glaze” (a deep mahogany brown color gradating into yellow) showcases how competitive ceramics companies were able to preserve their art pottery production while keeping up with changing trends. Rookwood’s vellum glaze in particular helped the company win a Grand Prize at a 1904 international competition and was the company’s last internationally-recognized glaze.
Collectors often refer to vases decorated in this fashion as “Scenic Vellums” because of their glaze and depiction of romanticized landscapes. Decorator Edward George Diers painted this vase with a delicate birch pattern, alluding to the American art deco preference for linear decoration and stylized natural motifs. Records show that Diers began working for Rookwood as a decorator and designer in 1894. He left the company in 1931 – the same year he decorated this vase.
Rookwood developed a matte glaze around 1900 to compete with the forest-green hues of the popular Grueby Faience Company. Unlike Grueby’s glaze, which appears waxy and leafy, Rookwood’s interpretation often uses pastel tones with a vellum-like finish. The transition from Rookwood’s earlier “standard glaze” (a deep mahogany brown color gradating into yellow) showcases how competitive ceramics companies were able to preserve their art pottery production while keeping up with changing trends. Rookwood’s vellum glaze in particular helped the company win a Grand Prize at a 1904 international competition and was the company’s last internationally-recognized glaze.
Collectors often refer to vases decorated in this fashion as “Scenic Vellums” because of their glaze and depiction of romanticized landscapes. Decorator Edward George Diers painted this vase with a delicate birch pattern, alluding to the American art deco preference for linear decoration and stylized natural motifs. Records show that Diers began working for Rookwood as a decorator and designer in 1894. He left the company in 1931 – the same year he decorated this vase.
Straight steel blade with rounded tip. Blade and rectangular bolster are one piece of steel with tang fitted into a tapered ivory handle with straight sides and rounded butt. Metal has minor discoloration, some residues on blade. Ivory is yellowed. Blade stamped: “PRATT ROPES WEBB&Co / AMERICAN CUTLERY”. With matching fork, 1986.0531.114.
Colored print of a view of Boston with Boston Common in the foreground and the bay in the background. Houses, churches, warehouses and industrial buildings are depicted. The bay is filled with sailing ships.
Large, two-handled, repousse chased oblong tray with raised well featuring a lion at center amidst large symmetrical flowering scrolls resting over a shield engraved with a heraldic device or achievement of arms. Four lion's masks are at centers of the wide angled sides, separated by cornucopias and matching flowering scrolls. High-relief floral bracket handles are attached by threaded posts secured with rosette-shaped nuts through the gadrooned rim. Obverse left end is struck below rim to left of handle "(A?)+C" in raised roman letters in a clipped-corner rectangle, its left end overstruck by an illegible mark, and with a crown above "NAP / ▪ 92 ▪" in an octagon or clipped-corner square. Reverse scratched "59"9(?)" at center of shield; a series of numbers and letters are inscribed in black along top right of center.
TITLE: Meissen: Part of a tea service (Hausmalerin)
MAKER: Meissen Manufactory
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: ceramic, porcelain, hard paste (overall material)
MEASUREMENTS: Tea bowls: H. 1¾" 4.5 cm
Chocolate cup: 3⅛" 8 cm
Saucer: D. 5⅛" 13.1 cm
Teapot: H. 5" 12.8 cm
OBJECT NAME: Part of a tea service
PLACE MADE: Meissen, Saxony, Germany
DATE MADE: 1730
SUBJECT: The Hans Syz Collection
Art
Domestic Furnishing
Industry and Manufacturing
CREDIT LINE: Hans C. Syz Collection
ID NUMBER: 1987.0896. 34 A,B; 36 a,b; 37 a,b
COLLECTOR/ DONOR: 227 A,B; 228 a,b; 229 a,b
ACCESSION NUMBER:
(DATA SOURCE: National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center)
MARKS: Crossed swords in underglaze blue, except chocolate cup, which is unmarked.
PURCHASED FROM: Minerva Antiques, New York, 1943.
Thw teapot is from parts from a tea service in 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 parts of this tea service were made in the Meissen manufactory but painted outside by independent artists. 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 even imprisoned them if Hausmalerei activity was suspected or discovered.
The tea service was painted in Augsburg in the 1720s.Two hundred years earlier Augsburg was the center of international merchant banking, and it is no coincidence that it was also a center for goldsmithing work of exceptional quality. Although no longer a powerful city in the eighteenth century, Augsburg was still renowned for its high quality artisan trades in precious metals, book production, and textiles. Hausmalerei was one among many subsidiary trades that met demands from other workshops, individual clients, and new manufactories like that of Meissen.
This Meissen tea service was probably painted by Anna Elizabeth Wald (b. 1696), and perhaps by her sister Sabina Hosennestel (1706-1782) as well. The two women were the daughters of the gold worker and Hausmaler Johann Aufenwerth (d.1728) but it is difficult to distinguish their styles one from the other. Another sister, Johanna Warmberger (1693-1772), also worked in the family business. The sisters specialized in decorative gilding and enamel painting of chinoiseries like the images seen here of two gentlemen smoking and taking tea in a garden.
Sabina Hosennestel married the tradesman and coffee-house owner, Isaac Hosennestel in 1731. It is thought that some of the porcelain vessels painted by the Aufenwerth sisters were intended for use in the coffee-house alongside Chinese and Japanese imported porcelain, especially the tea bowls. There were five other coffee-houses in Augsburg in the first half of the eighteenth century.
Other pieces from this service are in the Forsythe Wickes Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (inv. Numbers 65.2076-65.2080).
Ducret, S., 1971, Meissner Porzellan bemalt in Augsburg, 1718 bis um 1750, Band 1 Goldmalereien und bunte Chinoiserien.
On Hausmaler see Ulrich Pietsch, 2011, Early Meissen Porcelain: The Wark Collection from The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, pp. 43-46.
Hans Syz, J. Jefferson Miller II, Rainer Rückert, 1979, Catalogue of the Hans Syz Collection: Meissen Porcelain and Hausmalerei, pp. 506-507.
TITLE: Meissen: Part of a tea service (Hausmalerin)
MAKER: Meissen Manufactory
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: ceramic, porcelain, hard paste (overall material)
MEASUREMENTS: Tea bowls: H. 1¾" 4.5 cm
Chocolate cup: 3⅛" 8 cm
Saucer: D. 5⅛" 13.1 cm
Teapot: H. 5" 12.8 cm
OBJECT NAME: Part of a tea service
PLACE MADE: Meissen, Saxony, Germany
DATE MADE: 1730
SUBJECT: The Hans Syz Collection
Art
Domestic Furnishing
Industry and Manufacturing
CREDIT LINE: Hans C. Syz Collection
ID NUMBER: 1987.0896. 34 A,B; 36 a,b; 37 a,b
COLLECTOR/ DONOR: 227 A,B; 228 a,b; 229 a,b
ACCESSION NUMBER:
(DATA SOURCE: National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center)
MARKS: Crossed swords in underglaze blue, except chocolate cup, which is unmarked.
PURCHASED FROM: Minerva Antiques, New York, 1943.
These tea bowlsare from parts of a tea service in 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 parts of this tea service were 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 even imprisoned them if Hausmalerei activity was suspected or discovered.
The tea service was painted in Augsburg in the 1720s.Two hundred years earlier Augsburg was the center of international merchant banking, and it is no coincidence that it was also a center for goldsmithing work of exceptional quality. Although no longer a powerful city in the eighteenth century, Augsburg was still renowned for its high quality artisan trades in precious metals, book production, and textiles. Hausmalerei was one among many subsidiary trades that met demands from other workshops, individual clients, and new manufactories like that of Meissen.
This Meissen tea service was probably painted by Anna Elizabeth Wald (b. 1696), and perhaps by her sister Sabina Hosennestel (1706-1782) as well. The two women were the daughters of the gold worker and Hausmaler Johann Aufenwerth (d.1728) but it is difficult to distinguish their styles one from the other. Another sister, Johanna Warmberger (1693-1772), also worked in the family business. The sisters specialized in decorative gilding and enamel painting of chinoiseries like the images seen here of two gentlemen smoking and taking tea in a garden.
Sabina Hosennestel married the tradesman and coffee-house owner, Isaac Hosennestel in 1731. It is thought that some of the porcelain vessels painted by the Aufenwerth sisters were intended for use in the coffee-house alongside Chinese and Japanese imported porcelain, especially the tea bowls. There were five other coffee-houses in Augsburg in the first half of the eighteenth century.
Other pieces from this service are in the Forsythe Wickes Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (inv. Numbers 65.2076-65.2080).
Ducret, S., 1971, Meissner Porzellan bemalt in Augsburg, 1718 bis um 1750, Band 1 Goldmalereien und bunte Chinoiserien.
On Hausmaler see Ulrich Pietsch, 2011, Early Meissen Porcelain: The Wark Collection from The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, pp. 43-46.
Hans Syz, J. Jefferson Miller II, Rainer Rückert, 1979, Catalogue of the Hans Syz Collection: Meissen Porcelain and Hausmalerei, pp. 506-507.