Pitcher

The Chelsea Keramic Art Works was the first American ceramics firm to designate itself an "art pottery." It was founded in Chelsea, Massachusetts, by members of the Robertson family, all of whom had honed their skills in the ceramics industry in Britain before coming to this country. Hugh Robertson, the guiding force behind the pottery, created work that was not only inspired by classical Greek pottery but also by forms and decoration that align with English Reform design. This pitcher, with a pale olive-green glaze, has an angular profile resonant with the British designer Christopher Dresser’s innovative shapes, such as the pottery he designed for the English firms Watcombe and Linthorpe, as well as the glass and metalwork he conceived for various manufacturers.


This vase is from the Robert A. Ellison Jr. Collection of American art pottery donated to the Metropolitan Museum in 2017 and 2018. The works in the collection date from the mid-1870s through the 1950s. Together they comprise one of the most comprehensive and important assemblages of this material known.