NAHANT HOTEL (near) BOSTON

My husband David collects sand.  There are odder things to collect, but probably nothing cheaper.  Except for the travel expense (but we were going there anyway).  We have sand from all over the world.  Even friends collect it for us. 

One of my favorite transferware patterns is titled "Nahant Hotel (near) Boston." Nahant was one of America's first resort hotels. It was built in the early 19th century and burnt down in 1861.  The scene shows the hotel surrounded by ocean and beach.  People are walking, riding in carriages, and fishing, but I don't see anyone bathing in the ocean.   The 9 inch plate is part of a large series of American views by Joseph Stubbs (1822-1834) known as the Spread Eagle Border Series (see the large eagles in the border). The pattern is copied from an engraving by Annin & Smith and J.R. Penniman dated May 1, 1825.  For more information about the pattern, follow the link to the online exhibit "Patriotic America" which is sponsored by the Transferware Collectors Club, the Winterthur Museum, and Historic New England;  http://www.americanhistoricalstaffordshire.com/pottery/printed-designs/patterns/nahant-hotel-near-boston

David and I, accompanied by Dick Henrywood, visited Nahant in 2003 to see if we could figure out where the hotel was located and to collect sand for David's collection.  We're not sure that we found the hotel site, but we did get some sand.

"Nahant Hotel (near) Boston" by Joseph Stubbs

Source print for "Nahant Hotel (near) Boston"

Possible site of the Nahant Hotel (lots of sand)

Vial of sand from Nahant, MA

Map of Nahant, MA

 

IN MEMORIAM

John Brian Siddall (May 27, 1939 - April 26, 1981)

Gone, but not forgotten.  John will always be my beloved young husband.  He was a brilliant chemist known for his clear crystal thought.  He loved sailing, skiing, hiking, travel, cats, children, T.S. Eliot, Shakespeare, James Taylor, and me (not necessarily in that order).  Diagnosed with acute promylecytic leukemia on March 30, 1981, he died a few weeks later on April 26.

The transferware connection is a pattern on a child's plate.  That "Time waits for no one" is a common saying.  The pattern shows a rococo clock with a woman on one side and a man on the other: on the left is Time leaning on her hour glass and on the right is Death holding a scythe.  There is a raised poem between them.  The eye above may be the eye of God.   The poem reads: "Time, rapid flies, it waits for none/Yet gives us often warning:/We're here to day (sic) tomorrow gone/Out of this world of mourning."  Although this pattern might be seen as an inappropriate gift for a child today, it was very acceptable in the 19th century when death was a constant childhood companion.

Child's plate, mid-19th century

Child's plate center close-up

John Brian Siddall (May 27, 1939-April 26, 1981)

DECORATING WITH TRANSFERWARE (OR SHELLS NO. 2)

In a bit of a segue (actually more than a bit), I am going to show you a wall in my sister Janet Rudolph's house.  She has some lovely Stubbs Shell pieces.   She also has a large platter and some plates from Enoch Wood & Sons (1818-1846) Irregular Shell Border Series,  a  plate from Stubbs' Spread Eagle Border Series (a seaside scene) and other transferware pieces.   She mixed these patterns with American themed embroideries, wooden eagles, a  19th century Seth Thomas double face clock and other antiques.   As much as I enjoy studying transferware, it is even more fun (for me) to see how people live and decorate with it.

Janet's Transferware Display

It is difficult to see the transferware patterns on Janet's wall (the photo is too small), but the large platter (20 Inches) under the Stubbs Shell platter (see my Shells post, http://dishynews.blogspot.com/2013/04/shells.html) is from Enoch Wood & Son's Shell Border Series (Irregular or Grotto-Shaped Center).   The view is "Christianburg Danish Settlement on the Gold Coast Africa."  The shells in the border are spectacular.  The plate in the same series (10 inches) shows a view of the ship  "Chief Justice Marshall, Troy,"  a steamship that plied the Hudson.  The last photos show pictures of the 8.5 inch plate in the Stubbs' Shell series and "Nahant Hotel, Near Boston" in Stubbs' Spread Eagle Border Series.

Enoch Wood & Sons "Christianburg Danish Settlement on the Gold Coast Africa" 20" platter

Enoch Wood & Sons "Chief Justice Marshall, Troy" 10" plate

Stubbs & Kent Shell Series 8.5" plate

Joseph Stubbs, "Nahant, Near Boston" 9" plate

SHELLS

Stubbs & Kent 9.75" Shell Pattern Soup Plate, c. 1825

Stubbs & Kent 9" Shell Pattern Sauce Tureen Undertray, c. 1825

Stubbs & Kent 19" Shell Pattern Platter, c. 1825

I have always liked shells.  They remind me of my childhood summers at the beach with my grandparents in Atlantic City, NJ.   I collected shells.  They smelled of sand and salt and the essence of the animals that lived in them.  So, when I first saw a dark blue plate with a shell center, I had to have it (a familiar refrain for me), and I wanted to know more about who made it.

I learned the pattern was from a series of shells and sea plants surrounded by flowers, scrolls,  and fruit!  (Sometimes there is a disconnect between the center and the border.)  Both Joseph Stubbs (1822-1834) and the partnership of Stubbs & Kent (1822-1830) made the series.  It is printed in dark blue for the American Market.  Although the blue is dark, there is usually good contrast.  So far, there are thirteen different center patterns from this series in the Pattern and Source Print Database of the Transferware Collectors Club.

TRANSFERWARE ZEBRAS AND THEIR SOURCE PRINTS

I wrote about quaggas (a sub-species of the zebra) the other day http://dishynews.blogspot.com/2013/04/visit-to-quagga.html, so my friend, Dora Landey, suggested that I write about zebras.  Zebras were very popular transferware patterns (22 zebra patterns in the Pattern and Source Print Database of the Transferware Collectors Club),  and the real zebra is arguably one of the most popular animals found in a zoo.  They looked exotic to a denizen of the 19th century and still look exotic to us today.

Zebra at the San Francisco Zoo

Most people in 19th century Britain and America had never seen a living zebra.  They found them in books on natural history, such as "Histoire Naturelle" by Georges-Louis Buffon (1749), "A Cabinet of Quadrupeds" by John Church (1805),  and "The General History of Quadrupeds" by Thomas Bewick (1791).  (There are many more 18th and 19th century books on natural history that fueled the craze for exotic animals).  The Staffordshire potters, as I have already said in my post titled "Giraffe" http://dishynews.blogspot.com/2013/04/giraffe.html, put patterns on their pottery that were already popular.  As copyright laws in Britain were lax before 1842, the potters copied the prints found in the aforementioned books.  Below are a few of the popular zebra patterns and their source prints.  You'll notice that different factories copied from the same books.  Pay attention to the what the potters choose to keep from the source print and what they added or deleted.

Zebra pattern 10 inch plate by Ralph Stevenson (& Son), 1810-1835/copied from Buffon

Zebra pattern 6.5 inch saucer by an unknown maker/copied from Buffon

Zebra source print from "Histoire Naturelle" (32 volumes) by George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon, c. 1749

"Zebra" 5.75 inch child's plate by an unknown maker possibly copied from Thomas Bewick

"The Zebra" from "The History of Quadrupeds" by Thomas Bewick, 1791

"Zoological Sketches" 10 inch zebra pattern plate by Job Meigh (& Son), 1805-1834 copied from "A Cabinet of Quadrupeds" by John Church, 1805

Sporting Series zebra pattern 8 inch plate by Enoch Wood & Sons (1818-1846) copied from "A Cabinet of Quadrupeds" by John Church, 1805

Creamer by John Rogers & Son (1815-1842) copied from "A Cabinet of Quadrupeds" by John Church, 1805

"Zebra" source print from "A Cabinet of Quadrupeds" by John Church, 1805

BOSTON

I ran the Bay to Breakers in 1976 with my eight year old son, Michael.  The race was small in 1976, a mere 10,000 runners.  (Link to the history of the Bay to Breakers Race http://baytobreakers.com/index.php?page=race-history)  The event was a real race for some, but mainly a fun experience for many.  People dressed up then as they do now.  Or not.  Remember "streaking?"  Picnics in Golden Gate Park followed the 7.46 mile race across San Francisco from the Bay Bridge to the Pacific Ocean.  Michael probably ran a double race, as he ran ahead of me and back again to see why I was so slow.

My memories of the Bay to Breakers infused my mental images of the carnage and cruelty of the Boston Marathon massacre.  What had been a joyous and innocent event was destroyed by evil doers.  A race like the Boston Marathon or the Bay to Breakers is about training for and finishing something hard.  The experience of finishing is near Nirvana, or as close to that feeling as possible. 

I mean no disrespect by showing one of the lovely transferware patterns featuring Boston.  Boston was and is an historically important United States city, which is celebrated on many transferware patterns (there are 71 Boston related patterns in the Pattern and Source Print Database of the Transferware Collectors Club).  It is probably why the murderers targeted this particular race, as it struck at two of the things that Americans hold nearly holy; the cradle of liberty and the freedom and safety of congregation.

"State House, Boston" 14.5" by 12" platter made by Joseph Stubbs, circa 1825

FLAMINGOS ON TRANSFERWARE?

My late husband's post doc (in chemistry) gave him a plastic flamingo as a joke in 1977.  I think it had something to do with the Queen of Hearts playing croquet in "Alice in Wonderland."  As it is made of plastic, the flamingo has weathered well in my garden for the past 36 years.  It is so tacky, that I love it. As I always seem to focus on transferware, I wondered if I could find a flamingo printed on a piece of 19th century English pottery.

I didn't find anything from the early 19th century, but I did discover a jug in the Transferware Collectors Club Pattern and Source Print Database with a lovely Aesthetic transferware pattern made by Burgess & Leigh (1851-1999) named "Flamingo."  It features two flamingos in a natural bamboo setting (I am not sure that bamboo and flamingos go together).  Aesthetic patterns are all about nature.  This one was made around 1888.

Flamingos are very popular at zoos.  I love the flamingo enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo (one of my favorite zoos).  Below are two of my grandsons, Alex and Ben, enjoying the flamingos.  My granddaughter loves them too, but she loves anything pink!

For your own amusement, you might want to take a look at a link to the Smithsonian's history of the plastic pink flamingo.  http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/The-Tacky-History-of-the-Pink-Flamingo-165593536.html

Plastic pink flamingo in my garden

"Flamingo" pattern by Burgess & Leigh, c. 1888

Alex and Ben admiring real flamingos at the San Francisco Zoo