About this artwork
Eleanor Roosevelt originally commissioned the Jazz Bowl in celebration of her husband Franklin D. Roosevelt’s reelection as governor of New York. Viktor Schreckengost designed the vibrant vessel as an ode to New York’s architecture, music, and nightlife, and the design proved so popular it was put into small-batch production. Using Schreckengost’s template, workers scratched the design into the engobe, or black glaze, a technique called sgraffito. The final Egyptian blue glaze was then applied, representing the city at night.
-
Status
- On View, Gallery 161
-
Department
- Arts of the Americas
-
Artist
- Viktor Schreckengost
-
Title
- Jazz Bowl
-
Place
- Rocky River (Object made in)
-
Date
- c. 1931
-
Medium
- Glazed earthenware, engobe
-
Inscriptions
- Inscribed recto, bottom-middle, in engobe: "JA / ZZ". Signed verso, right-bottom edge, in engobe: "VIKTOR SCHRECKEGOST". Stamped bottom, right-middle, under glaze: "COWAN"; stamped bottom, bottom-right, under glaze: Cowan mark.
-
Dimensions
- 23.5 × 42.6 × 43.2 cm (9 1/4 × 16 3/4 × 17 in.)
-
Credit Line
- Through prior acquisition of the Antiquarian Society; Thorne Rooms Exhibition Fund; bequest of Elizabeth R. Vaughan; and the Winfield Foundation
-
Reference Number
- 2004.1