Pitcher

Arts of the Americas

c. 1890

Designed by Edward Kemeys (American, 1843–1907)
Made by Joseph Green (American, active 1890s)
Burley & Co. (founded 1883)
Chicago, Illinois

In addition to both small- and large-scale bronze sculptures—most notably, the lions flanking the Art Institute’s Michigan Avenue entrance—Edward Kemeys created utilitarian vessels such as this ceramic pitcher. Produced by the potter Joseph Green and sold at Burley and Company in Chicago, the pitcher features four heads of Native Americans similar to those Kemeys sculpted for the lobby of Chicago’s Marquette Building. While the artist employed a geometric decoration reminiscent of Native American basketry, the pitcher’s form is not based on an actual vessel.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Joseph Green (Maker)
Title: Pitcher
Place: Chicago (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: c. 1890
Medium: Earthenware and glaze
Inscriptions: Signed side, incised: "Edward Kemeys". Impressed bottom, stamped: "AMERICAN / INDIAN PITCHER / MODEL BY / EDWARD KEMEYS / MADE BY / JOSEPH GREEN / OTTAWA ILL" surrounded by a border reading: "BURLEY & Co. PATENTED / AMERICA R [or A] 2319713 / ENGLAND / CHICAGO PATENTED / FRANCE / PATENTED GERMANY" [in circular design].
Dimensions: 14.3 × 22.9 cm (5 5/8 × 9 in.)
Credit Line: The Chipstone Foundation Endowment Fund
Reference Number: 2001.477
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/158473/manifest.json

Judith A. Barter, Window on the West: Chicago and the Art of the New Frontier 1890-1940, exh. cat. (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago; New York and Manchester, VT: Hudson Hills Press, 2003), 50–51, cat. 54, fig. 4 (ill.).
Judith A. Barter, et. al. Apostles of Beauty: Arts and Crafts from Britain to Chicago, exh. cat. (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2009), 195, cat. 76 (ill.).

Art Institute of Chicago, Window on the West: Chicago and the Art of the New Frontier, 1890-1940, June 10–Oct. 16, 2003, cat. 54.
Art Institute of Chicago, Apostles of Beauty: Arts and Crafts from Britain to Chicago, Nov. 7, 2009–Jan. 31, 2010, cat. 76.

With The Stradlings, New York, by 2001; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2001.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.