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View full screen - View 1 of Lot 50. (American Revolution) | A rare transferware jug, celebrating the newly formed United States.

(American Revolution) | A rare transferware jug, celebrating the newly formed United States

Lot Closed

July 16, 05:50 PM GMT

Estimate

3,500 - 5,500 USD

Lot Details

Description

(American Revolution)

An English creamware transfer printed jug, decorated with the cartouche... [Liverpool: circa 1783]


Approximately 222 mm tall; the base 140 mm in diameter.


A relic of the end of the American Revolution


Following the signing of the Preliminary Articles of Peace in January 1783, English map makers rushed to issue depictions of the new United States. The most famous of these—and by far the rarest—was by John Wallis: published on 3 April 1783, it was the earliest separately engraved map of the United States.


The chief feature of this scarce map is its celebrated cartouche, elegantly crafted with portraits of the most famous of American patriots "joined by symbolic figures who pay tribute to America's newly won status as an independent nation" (Deak). On the left, George Washington stands in full uniform walking beside Lady Liberty, her cap perched atop her staff; above their heads the Angel of Fame blows her trumpet, with a laurel wreath clutched in her left hand; to the right of the title sits Benjamin Franklin, inscribing a large book, headed American Independence, with the Greek Goddess of Wisdom Athena (or Minerva, the Roman counterpart) pointing to his words, with an owl perched on her helmet, symbolizing the ability to see even in the dark; behind the pair stands a blindfolded Justice with sword in hand standing amongst tall pine trees, perhaps a reference to the American "Appeal to Heaven" flags of the war. Above the cartouche on the Wallis map is a 13-star American flag, the earliest depiction of the flag of the United States on an English map. Interestingly, the Abel Buell map, published in America subsequent to Wallis, included similar symbolic figures (i.e. Fame, Liberty and the U.S. flag).


Transfer printing onto creamware began in England in the mid-18th century to fulfill the desires of the public seeking inexpensive yet decorative wares. It is a process by which a pattern or design is etched onto a copper plate; the plate is then inked and the pattern is transferred to a thin tissue; the inked tissue is then laid onto the already bisque fired ceramic, glazed, and fired again. The present jug, celebrating the American victory in the Revolution, would seem to have been produced for export to the American market. 


Interestingly, while many elements on the jug are the same as the cartouche of the Wallis map, a notable difference is the American flag. While the map depicts the well-known 13-stars and stripes, the jug depicts a striped flag with a central image of the Great American Seal. A similar flag (with an outstretched eagle instead of the American seal) was used by the Continental Army, 2nd Light Dragoons, which was captured by Tarleton at Pound Ridge, NY in 1779-80 (that flag sold at Sotheby's in 2006 for over $12 million). The other side of the jug shows an emblematic design including the outstretched eagle and the traditional American flag (stars and stripes), etc., surrounding the words "Peace and Independence."


REFERENCE

McCauley, Liverpool Transfer Designs on Anglo-American Pottery, nos. 58A, pl. XXIV; 186