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Bowl, California Pattern

Decorative Arts and Design

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
  • Place Manufactured: Glasglow, Scotland
  • 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.
    EXHIBITIONS
    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
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    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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    Robert Cochran & Son (1846–1896). <em>Bowl, California Pattern</em>, 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)