Gousse Bonnin. <em>Sweetmeat Dish</em>, 1770–1772. Soft-paste porcelain, underglaze, 5 1/4 x 7 1/4 x 7 1/4 in. (13.3 x 18.4 x 18.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund, 45.174. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 45.174_reference_SL1.jpg)

Gousse Bonnin. Sweetmeat Dish, 1770–1772. Soft-paste porcelain, underglaze, 5 1/4 x 7 1/4 x 7 1/4 in. (13.3 x 18.4 x 18.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund, 45.174. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 45.174_reference_SL1.jpg)

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Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

Do you know approximately how many other sweetmeat dishes there are remaining by American China Manufactory? It is crazy the company was only around for two years!

Porcelain created by American China Manufactory is extremely rare; less than two dozen pieces are known to exist! Around five of these are tiered sweetmeat dishes like this (sometimes called pickle dishes) and a few others are more simple, single pickle dishes. The American China Manufactory filled a gap in the market during a period when colonial American audiences could not acquire Chinese porcelain due to trade regulations. Once trade resumed, audiences vastly preferred the imported Chinese porcelains.

It's wonderful that we have examples of their work left!

I've just read Chernow's Hamilton biography and in it, he covers the fact that many imports still came in from Europe - even porcelain. They highlight the fact that the ordering of porcelain took many weeks longer to arrive in the United States than other cargo from Europe. I'm wondering if it's because the English ordered from China and controlled supplies to America?

That's absolutely true. America was incredibly reliant on Britain for manufactured goods, and throughout the 18th and 19th century they were our biggest trading partner. Prior to the revolution, Chinese imports to America were mediated by British traders. But also, England was a major manufacturer of ceramics themselves. If you are on the fifth floor, we have some really early and rare examples of American porcelain dating to the colonial period! Only a few pieces of these exist in the world. Unfortunately, fledgling American companies struggled to compete with the influx of English and Chinese ceramics.

Sweetmeat Dish

Decorative Arts and Design

On View: American Art Galleries, 5th Floor, Radical Care

American China Manufactory objects are the oldest American-made porcelain, and extremely rare. Because England viewed the colonies as a market for its exports, it discouraged manufacturing. In the 1760s, however, when Americans were boycotting English luxury goods, Gouse Bonnin and George Anthony Morris, founders of the American China Manufactory, were among the first colonists to establish a porcelain factory. Although they succeeded in producing close imitations of English wares, Bonnin and Morris closed their factory after only two years, owing to the resumption of trade with England in 1770 and the difficulties inherent in the startup of a new enterprise.

MAKERS Gousse Bonnin; George Anthony Morris; American China Manufactory

MEDIUM Soft-paste porcelain, underglaze

Place Made: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

DATES 1770–1772

DIMENSIONS 5 1/4 x 7 1/4 x 7 1/4 in. (13.3 x 18.4 x 18.4 cm) (show scale)

MARKINGS Marked on base: "P" in under glaze blue

COLLECTIONS Decorative Arts and Design

ACCESSION NUMBER 45.174

CREDIT LINE Museum Collection Fund

PROVENANCE Prior to 1945, provenance not yet documented; by 1945, acquired by Ginsburg & Levy, Inc., New York, NY; 1945, purchased from Ginsburg & Levy by the Brooklyn Museum.

Provenance FAQ

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Sweetmeat dish, white earthenware, composed of three half shells attached to a central rusticated stem surmounted by a circular shell of smaller size; three short peg feet support the base. Many small shells and bits of coral are encrusted on a central stem; a hand painted design of flowers, wheat and insects in underglaze zaffer blue compose the decoration, the shells are accented in the same blue. Condition: slightly nicked.

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in American Art Galleries, 5th Floor, Radical Care

CAPTION Gousse Bonnin. Sweetmeat Dish, 1770–1772. Soft-paste porcelain, underglaze, 5 1/4 x 7 1/4 x 7 1/4 in. (13.3 x 18.4 x 18.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund, 45.174. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 45.174_reference_SL1.jpg)

IMAGE overall, 45.174_reference_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph

"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

You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

RECORD COMPLETENESS

Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.

Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

Do you know approximately how many other sweetmeat dishes there are remaining by American China Manufactory? It is crazy the company was only around for two years!

It's wonderful that we have examples of their work left!