Plate

This brown and white transfer-printed earthenware plate made by the Staffordshire firm of Job & John Jackson features a view of the President’s House as the White House was commonly called during the nineteenth century. A grand and palatial example of American architecture with obvious appeal to patriotic American consumers, the President’s House was a popular subject for nineteenth-century transfer-printed export wares. Designed by James Hoban (1757–1821), an immigrant Irish architect practicing in Charleston, South Carolina, the Neo-Palladian structure is shown with its later additions of two flanking pavilions completed in 1824 after designs by Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) who sponsored the original competition for designs in 1792. Jackson's view was based on a drawing signed H. Brown engraved by Fenner, Sears & Co. and reproduced as "The President's House, Washington" in John Howard Hinton's "The History and Topography of the United States of North America" (London, 1830 and 1832). Nothing is known of the artist H. Brown. Owing perhaps to the popularity of the view, Jackson produced two versions, one with a tall tree and the other without. Another version of Fenner's engraving also appears on an anonymous plate, 14.102.321, in the American Wing's collection. Jackson's version belongs to a series commonly known as "American Scenery" consisting of approximately thirty-two American views produced for the United States export market with a standard border of floral bouquets and blossoms, C-scrolls and an outer beaded band. The collection also contains additional pieces by Jackson from the same series. Refer to the Dictionary for a definition of the term "transfer printing" and for information about Jackson.