Pitcher, "Alsatian" line

Chesapeake Pottery

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Chesapeake Pottery was an important late-19th and early-20th century firm located in Baltimore, Maryland. The pottery created a number of novel glazes and forms during the 1880s and ‘90s, including the line to which this pitcher belongs, the then-new Avalon china body. This slip-cast pitcher is decorated in the "Alsatian" pattern, distinguished by its allover transfer-printed, floral decoration further embellished with portraits in gold enamel. This was part of a larger toilet set decorated with scenes from "The Merchant of Venice"; the two sides depict portraits of Jessica and Portia painted in gold enamel in the central reserve.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art