Exhibitions: American Ceramics, 1607-1943

Date unknown, approximately 1944: A permanent gallery of American ceramics, believed to be the most comprehensive collection that has ever been placed on public view, will be opened by the Brooklyn Museum on January 19, 1944 after a preview for members and invited guests on the preceding day. The exhibition begins with the 17th century and continues to the present day. It is composed of two major collections. One was assembled by Mr. Arthur W. Clement and has recently been given by him to the Museum. Mr. Burford Lorimer has lent a large collection that contains some of the finest extant examples from Pennsylvania and the Shenandoah Valley. The exhibition also comprises loans and gifts from institutions and individuals.

A fully illustrated handbook with much new information on the subject of American ceramics has been prepared by Mr. Clement and will be published to accompany the exhibition. It is based on several years’ exploration of early pottery sites and contemporary documents.

The exhibition is arranged in seven main divisions, redware, stoneware, moulded wares, utility wares, decorative wares, porcelain and tiles. The redware section contains early fragments excavated at Jamestown, Virginia, and from the sites of two 18th century Massachusetts potteries. Sgraffito and slipware of the highest quality from Eastern Pennsylvania are represented by such rarities as a pair of signed David Spinner plates and a plate decorated by Georg Hubener dated 1792.

The stoneware contains 18th century examples from a pottery at South Amboy, New Jersey, and from the Abraham Meade pottery at Greenwich, Connecticut. In the moulded wares are marked examples of rockingham made at Jersey City, South Amboy, Baltimore and Bennington, as well as at East Liverpool, Ohio. Examples of graniteware and hotelware are included under utility wares.

Decorative wares are represented by majolica, and items produced at the Rookwood pottery and tableware made at Los Angeles with decorations from designs by Rockwell Kent. The collection includes several unique pieces, such as the white earthenware sauceboat made by Bonnin and Morris at Philadelphia in 1771-1772.

The porcelain section contains two marked Smith, Fife & Company pitchers, which received commendation at the Franklin Institute exhibition of 1830, the first piece of bellock produced at Trenton, the Century Vase created by the Union Porcelain Works for the Centennial Exhibition, a porcelain candlestick from New Jersey and examples of porcelain made by Charles Cartlidge of Brooklyn. An unusual marked pitcher from the American Porcelain Manufacturing Company of Gloucester, New Jersey, is also included. Roof tiles are represented by an early 18th century example from Massachusetts, and one of mid-l8th century from Pennsylvania. Another unusual item is a Moravian stove tile from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

There is also an assortment of potters tools containing slip-cups, coggle-wheels, hand stamps, stilts and moulds.

Credit for assembling and arranging the collection is shared by Mr. Arthur W. Clement, a member of the Governing Committee of the Brooklyn Museum, and by John M. Graham, 2nd, Curator of Decorative Arts at the Museum.

Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1942 - 1946. 01-03/1944, 002-3. View Original 1 . View Original 2