Description:
A lead-glazed, pearlware tea cup, London-shape (slanted sides with an undercut base), decorated in underglaze dark blue transfer printed decoration, the pattern is "Wadsworth Tower." Scene depicts a river with a sail boat with a tower and trees in the background, two people on the shore, and a border of shells. The Wadsworth Tower was located on Talcott Mountain, overlooking the Farmington River - spanning the towns of Avon and Simsbury, CT. Daniel Wadsworth (son of Jeremiah Wadsworth) purchased land on Talcott Mountain in 1805 and turned it into a lavish estate he named Monte Video. Like most luxury estates of the era, Monte Video had gardens, a boat house, an ice house, and ample land for farming. What was different about Monte Video, however, was that Wadsworth opened his property to the public. In order to take advantage of the mountain’s spectacular views, Wadsworth made two attempts to build observation towers at Monte Video. The first tower, built in 1810, actually blew over, and the second, built in 1840, burned to the ground. Both Enoch Wood, a potter based in Burslem, and his competitor Andrew Stevenson of Cobridge, appear to have produced very similar versions of Wadsworth Tower patterns. This example is not marked, but appears to be made by Enoch Wood. A newspaper advertisement for the pattern appears in the Connecticut Courant, June 26, 1826, from china and glass merchant Peter Morton. Morton advertised, "direct from the manufactory at Staffordshire, among which is an entirely new and a most beautiful pattern of Tea Ware, called Wadsworth Tower." Morton had a direct trading relationship with Enoch Wood.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2018.32 |
