Bowl, California Pattern
Decorative Arts
These ceramics are decorated with American landscape scenes and were made in England for the American market. Before the 1840s, only the elite could afford dinnerware, then made of expensive porcelain. One of the early fruits of the Industrial Revolution was the production of inexpensive machine-molded and mechanically decorated earthenware for the middle class. These objects were decorated by the transfer technique, in which the scene is engraved on a metal plate, inked, printed on paper, and then pressed, or transferred, onto the ceramic body.
MEDIUM
Glazed earthenware
DATES
ca. 1850
DIMENSIONS
1 1/2 x 9 5/8 x 9 in. (3.8 x 24.4 x 22.9 cm)
(show scale)
MARKINGS
Printed in brown on bottom: "CALIFORNIA/ R. C. & Co. {in oval wreath]"; printed in blue "I"
ACCESSION NUMBER
2013.37.4
CREDIT LINE
Gift of Carson, Pirie and Scott Co., by exchange
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
A molded square earthenware plate with a white ground and transfer-printed decoration in brown ink. A wide band of interlaced vegetal motifs, with a border of triangles and circles, runs along the slightly wavy rim. Within the recessed square at the center of the plate is a scene depicting white and black men panning gold in a river against a backdrop of mountains, tents and rich vegetation. The handles on the sides with three slightly raised knobs.
CONDITION:
Very good condition.
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Robert Cochran & Son (1846-1896). Bowl, California Pattern, ca. 1850. Glazed earthenware, 1 1/2 x 9 5/8 x 9 in. (3.8 x 24.4 x 22.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Carson, Pirie and Scott Co., by exchange, 2013.37.4. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.2013.37.4.jpg)
IMAGE
overall,
CUR.2013.37.4.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2013
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT
Creative Commons-BY
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What is the technique used to make these?
These are what is called transferware. Rather than being hand painted, which was traditionally very expensive and labor-intensive work, these designs were transferred from metal plates, a process derived from printed book illustrations. In fact, many of the decorations would be copied from images in published books.