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"Longfellow" pitcher
American
about 1880
Object Place: England
Medium/Technique
Earthenware
Dimensions
Overall: 16.2 × 23.5 × 20.3 cm (6 3/8 × 9 1/4 × 8 in.)
Credit Line
The Lloyd and Vivian Hawes Collection
Accession Number2000.697
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsCeramics – Pottery – Earthenware
DescriptionBulbous pitcher with strap handle opposite spout, with polychrome decoration including band of inscriptions around neck, and with upper half of body with a star background, with large portrait of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on one side and poem on the other, separated by bands of floral decoration and with additional embellishments.
Marks
Marked: Manufactured by Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Etruria/For/Richard Briggs/Boston/Registered. in Great Britain/ and France/ Also in the / United States.
Stamped Mark: Wedgwood/ABL
Painted: T (?) 920/4
Stamped Mark: Wedgwood/ABL
Painted: T (?) 920/4
InscriptionsInscribed: Excelsior/ Hiawatha/ Evangeline/ Miles Standish/ Olden Legend/ Tales of a/ Wayside Inn./ Psalm of the/ Keramos/ Round/ Turn, turn, my wheel! Turn round and/ Without a pause without a sound: / So spin the flying world away!/ This clay, well mixed with marl and sand,/ Follows the motion of my hand;/ For some must follow and some command. / Though all are made of clay
ProvenanceEarly history unknown; such pitchers were retailed in Boston by Richard Briggs beginning in 1880; from the noted collection of Lloyd and Vivian Hawes, Wellesley, Massachusetts.