Memorial pitcher honoring George Washington and is filled with rich symbolic imagery and historic detail.
One side features a dramatic transfer print of the Apotheosis of Washington titled “Ascending into Glory,” depicting Washington in Roman robes being carried to the heavens by an eagle and angel, as the figure of Liberty mourns below. Flanked by his birth and death dates. Cherubs gaze down from above, bearing silent witness.
In the inscription: “Sacred to the Memory of Washington”
The opposite side shows a proud American three-masted ship flying a five-star American flag—an early symbol of the new nation Washington helped to found.
Below the spout is an oval image of “Hope,” framed in a delicate floral border. A small floral sprig is placed under the handle.
Created in England for the American market.
Size: 8.5" x 12"
Condition: Small crack at the bottom, otherwise intact with vivid transfer and detail.
Shipping: $25. Please allow one week for shipping.
Historical background
The Smithsonian Museum of American History has a pitcher with a very similar image of "Washington Ascending into Glory" and a three-masted ship on the other side. This is their description:
"George Washington is the most common figure depicted on English creamware pitchers of this period. His death in 1799 led to an outpouring of commemorative products celebrating his life and mourning his death. The Apotheosis of Washington is a print done by John James Barralet’s captioned “Ascending to Glory” on the pitcher. The print depicts Washington being raised from his tomb by two winged figures representing Immortality and Father Time. At the left are allegorical figures of Faith, Hope, and Charity above a spread winged bald eagle perched on the US shield with a banner reading “E Pluribus Unum” in its beak. Below Washington is an allegorical figure of Liberty and a Native American (representing the Western Hemisphere) seated among Washington’s armor, sword, and a fasces— iconography of his military and political career. . . .
"There is no mark on the pitcher to tell us who made it, but it is characteristic of wares made in large volume for the American market in both Staffordshire and Liverpool between 1790 and 1820. Pitchers of this shape, with a cream colored glaze over a pale earthenware clay, known as Liverpool type, were the most common vessels to feature transfer prints with subjects commemorating events and significant figures in the early decades of United States’ history. Notwithstanding the tense relationship between Britain and America, Liverpool and Staffordshire printers and potters seized the commercial opportunity offered them in the production of transfer printed earthenwares celebrating the heroes, the military victories, and the virtues of the young republic, and frequently all of these things at once.
Sotheby’s explains the process of transfer printing:
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.
