Description:
Bough pots, usually produced in pairs or as sets of three, became a popular mantlepiece ornament in the late 18th century. Removable inserts with several holes were placed inside the pot making it easier to arrange cut flowers or branches. By about 1790, this popular semi-circular form was made by most factories. English lusterware semi-circular bough pot with a fluted cover or insert with three large round holes, decorated with white floral sprays on a silver lustre background. The cover is topped with a lion head finial in black, green, and pink: the black-circled eyes have long eye lashes, the nose and mouth are pink, and the area around the nose is green; the 15 flutes each have a vertical white foliate spray. The body has a series of arches around the top edge, over three panels between four fluted columns, over a molded base. The pot is supported on four applied half-round feet. The paper scotch taped to the base states: "Silver luster piece. Was given to Orson Williams' grandfather, Elijah Williams (1767-1834), by a merchant captain. This was a three-piece set but only the middle section has survived." Elijah Williams was the son of Dr. Thomas Williams (1728-1781) of Deerfield. He was a saddler by trade, and lived on Lot 15 on Deerfield's Main Street. He married Hannah Barnard (1772-1853) of Deerfield and they had five children. He was better known as "Uncle Josh," he was also known to have made pocketbooks. He was registrar of deeds for Northern Hampshire County as well as postmaster in 1800. The donor, Captain Edgar Miller Williams (1889-1986), was the son of Admiral Clarence Stewart Williams (1863-1951) who married Anna M. Miller (1860-1955), the daughter of Dr. J. M. Miller of Springfield, Ohio, in 1888; his grandfather was Orson Bennet Williams (1834-1912), who was born in Ashfield and married Pamelia L. Floyd of Springfield, Ohio, in 1862; his great-grandfather was Samuel Barnard Williams (1803-1884) of Deerfield who married Mary A. Bennet (d.1839) of Ashfield, Massachusetts, in 1834, and Caroline Johnson (d.1885) in 1844; his great-great grandfather was Elijah Williams (1767-1832) who married Hannah Barnard (1772-1853), daughter of Samuel Barnard (1721-1788) of Deerfield, in 1803; and his great-great-great grandfather was Dr. Thomas Williams (1718-1775) of Deerfield. This branch of the Williams family is also related to Elizabeth Williams Champney (1850-1922), a well-known writer of her period, who was the half-sister of Orson Bennet Williams and the wife of the artist, James Wells Champney (1843-1903).
Subjects:
Pottery; Enamel and enameling; glaze (coating by location); polychrome Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+69.0171 |
