Bowl, California Pattern
Robert Cochran & Son
1 of 2
Object Label
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.
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. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Manufacturer
Title
Bowl, California Pattern
Date
ca. 1850
Geography
Place manufactured: Glasglow, Scotland
Medium
Glazed earthenware
Classification
Dimensions
1 1/2 x 9 5/8 x 9 in. (3.8 x 24.4 x 22.9 cm)
Markings
Printed in brown on bottom: "CALIFORNIA/ R. C. & Co. {in oval wreath]"; printed in blue "I"
Credit Line
Gift of Carson, Pirie and Scott Co., by exchange
Accession Number
2013.37.4
Frequent Art Questions
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.
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