Description:
Tureen lid with a view of "Cambridge College, Massachusetts," from John and William Ridgway's "Beauties of America" series. The underside of the lid is marked “Beauties of America / Cambridge College / Massachusetts / J & W Ridgway.” Built by the city in 1800 on Leverett Street to provide new housing for the city’s poor, the Boston Almshouse—designed by Charles Bullfinch (1763-1844)—was an impressive and monumental structure. In addition to possessing four stories, accommodating three kitchens, 48 rooms, and a chapel, the building also boasted an elegant Classical-style façade as described by one contemporary:
The large arched windows were finished with fluted pilasters of the Ionic order. The outside walls were of large bricks, with white marble fascias, imposts and keystones, and the roof covered with slate. Four brick partitions ran through the building, in which stood the chimnies [sic], containing a funnel for every room. The whole building was enclosed with brick walls and handsome gates. This structure replaced the city’s old almshouse—a comparatively smaller “two story brick building, in the form of an L” located on Park Street. The sale of the land upon which the old almshouse stood helped, in part, to fund the building of the new almshouse on Leverett Street. The tureen’s view of the almshouse is supplemented by a view of Harvard College on the lid, and the Deaf and Dumb Asylum of Hartford, Connecticut on the tray. Condition: Finial on the cover is restored
Subjects:
Pottery; glaze (coating by location) Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2021.23.6.2 |
