Vase with marine life

Thomas J. Wheatley

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Many of the Cincinnati potters and decorators of the late 1870s and early 1880s were skilled practitioners of the French technique of barbotine, or painting with colored slips under the glaze. Another aspect of barbotine decoration was introducing applied elements of flowers, or in this exceptional example, marine life. Thomas J. Wheatley demonstrated an affinity for Japanese art that aligned with French ceramics in the 1880s. Known primarily for his barbotine, this vase and a small numbers in this mode, reflect the influence of Asia in their motifs and inspiration, as well as demonstrating his reverence for the French sixteenth-century pottery of Bernard Palissy. Palissy, a prominent figure in all histories of ceramics, is often considered the father of modern ceramic art. Wheatley’s distinctive vase drew upon the Renaissance master’s work in portraying sea life realistically and in high relief. It literally pulsates with life as the fish, crustacean, and seaweed surge around the gourd-shaped vase, and boldly extend beyond the vase’s lip.

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