Ewer on stand
Manufacturer Chelsea Keramic Art Works American
Hugh C. Robertson
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. This unusually large ewer has a somewhat classically inspired shape, a form typical of English and American metal, ceramic, and glass of the 1870s. The decoration of applied water lilies and leaves, however, is more naturalistic. Hugh Roberston, the artistic head of the firm, was clearly conversant with and worked in several modes simultaneously.
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.
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