Description:
Chinese export porcelain hot-water dish decorated in blue, brown, and gilding with the initials "IAA" in gold and brown in an oval reserve in the center well, which according to family tradition belonged to Isaac Abercrombie (1759-1847). In 1742, Robert Abercrombie (1712-1786) emigrated from Edinburgh, Scotland, to Pelham, Massachusetts; he and his wife, Margaret Stevenson Abercrombie (d.1765), had 10 children; their son, Isaac Abercrombie married Martha McCullough (1768-1837) in 1790, and they moved from Pelham to the Cheapside section of Deerfield (now in Greenfield) about 1830. Isaac and Martha's son Asiel Abercrombie (1807-1874) married Elizabeth Brooks Fuller (1817-1906) in 1845; they had three children who lived: Robert (b.1846), William Hyslop (1851-1940) and Hattie Fuller (1860-1955); only Robert married - Ellen Margaret Crawford in 1873. Robert and Ellen's son, James Douglas Abercrombie (b.1878) was the father of James Douglas Abercrombie (1913-1978), husband of the donor. These dishes were used to keep the food warm, after being placed on the table. This dish has a gold grape leaf and blue berry cluster border around the gilt-edged rim and two gilt berry and leaf bands around the curvature; and a spout on one side of the rim and a vent for steam on the opposite side. The Chinese probably took this border design from European ceramic models; a similar design is found in Josiah Wedgwood's "First Pattern Book" and on an example of Swansea creamware of about 1800-1810. Variations of this grape leaf design began to appear around 1790, when these borders were painted more realistically in green and brown as compared to the earlier, more stylized examples of vine patterns in gold, and the slightly later, more elaborate examples. Schiffer (1980) illustrates a similarly-designed dish owned by the second President of the United States (from 1796-1800), John Adams (1735-1826) and his wife Abigail Adams (1744-1818), which also has the same style of initials.
Subjects:
Pottery; Enamel and enameling; glaze (coating by location); Porcelain Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+78.130 |
