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Vase

A work made of earthenware and glaze.

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  • A work made of earthenware and glaze.

Date:

c. 1909

Artist:

Designed by Annie E. Aldrich (American, 1857–1937)
Made by John Swallow (born England, 1856–1920)
Decorated by Sarah Tutt (American, 1859–1947)
Marblehead Pottery (American, 1904–1936)
Marblehead, Massachusetts

About this artwork

The establishment of Marblehead Pottery is an example of the American Arts and Crafts movement’s preoccupation with therapeutic reform through handicraft. Dr. Herbert Hall created a ceramics studio at his Marblehead, Massachusetts, sanatorium in 1904 to rehabilitate “nervously worn out patients.” Hall hired ceramist Arthur Baggs to assist with production. By 1908, however, the pottery no longer employed patients and instead was staffed with professional potters. Renamed Marblehead Pottery, the firm had began to produce pottery with incised geometric designs in contrasting matte colors. The Japanese-informed teachings of painter Arthur Wesley Dow, who led a summer art colony at Ipswich, 18 miles from Marblehead, inspired the vase’s stylized marsh landscape.

Status

On View, Gallery 178

Department

Arts of the Americas

Artist

Annie E. Aldrich (Designer)

Title

Vase

Place

Marblehead (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. 1909

Medium

Earthenware and glaze

Inscriptions

Impressed bottom, stamped: "M" "P" [flanking front view of a clippership at sea within a circle; Marblehead Pottery mark]; incised: "A" [Annie E. Aldrich designer's mark] / "T" [Sarah Tutt mark].

Dimensions

21.6 × 17.5 × 17.5 cm (8 1/2 × 6 7/8 × 6 7/8 in.)

Credit Line

Vance American Art Fund; purchased with funds provided by the Antiquarian Society

Reference Number

2008.74

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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