Pitcher

The mid-nineteenth century porcelain manufactory of Charles Cartlidge and Company in Greenpoint, Brooklyn produced a variety of slip-cast wares for the middle class market. The firm offered a wide array of forms which included tablewares and pitchers, along with mundane, everyday objects (inkstands, paper weights, spittoons, etc.) to highly specialized items. Among the company’s favorite designs are the relief-molded pitchers of either corn and cornstalks or oak leaves and acorns, like this example. The most significant Cartlidge pitchers are those with shields and inscribed with names, often made for tradesmen or saloon keepers. The size of this pitcher is unusual and it is one of only a few known of this large capacity. The inscription, "C. Cartlidge," is for the firm’s proprietor and factory founder Charles Cartlidge, in whose family this pitcher descended.