Figural Group
The mid-nineteenth century saw the advent of porcelain manufacturing on a large industrial scale. The industry centered primarily in Greenpoint (Brooklyn), New York, and Trenton, New Jersey, and soon East Liverpool, Ohio, became significant producer. The output of these firms, which included Charles Cartlidge & Company, William Bloor, and the Union Porcelain Works, were useful wares, everything from door and cabinet hardware (knobs and push plates) to sturdy pitchers for use in the proliferating ale and porter houses. Staffed primarily by the influx of skilled labor beginning in the late 1840s, with immigrant craftsmen and designers seeking more profitable livelihood in the United States, the firms embraced the developed technologies and popular patterns from abroad. Typically, whether of glazed porcelain or unglazed parian porcelain, the forms were slip-cast and thereby made in multiples, with relief-molded designs in a variety of naturalistic patterns. Some had direct prototypes in their transatlantic sources; others were unique to North America, often embracing native flora.
Artwork Details
- Title: Figural Group
- Designer: Probably designed by Karl L. H. Müller (1820–1887)
- Manufacturer: Union Porcelain Works (1863–1922)
- Date: ca. 1876
- Geography: Made in Brooklyn, New York, United States
- Culture: American
- Medium: Unglazed porcelain, slip-cast with cobalt blue highlights
- Dimensions: 7 7/8 in. (20 cm)
- Credit Line: Gift of Robert A. Ellison Jr., 2021
- Object Number: 2022.404.32
- Curatorial Department: The American Wing
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Karl L. H. Müller
Union Porcelain Works
1876
Karl L. H. Müller
1876
Karl L. H. Müller
Union Porcelain Works
ca. 1884
Karl L. H. Müller
Union Porcelain Works
ca. 1863
Karl L. H. Müller
Union Porcelain Works
ca. 1876
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