Skip to Content

Plate

A work made of earthenware (redware), cream-colored slip, and colored lead glazes.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

Image actions

  • A work made of earthenware (redware), cream-colored slip, and colored lead glazes.

Date:

1792

Artist:

Rudolph Drach (American, 1759–after 1814)
Bedminster Township, Pennsylvania

About this artwork

Little is known about the potter of this plate, Rudolph Drach. The artist’s grandfather Rudolph Drach was among seventy-seven Palatinate Germans who, along with their families, arrived in Philadelphia on August 29, 1730, and he eventually settled in Bucks County. This plate, made in 1792 according to the incised inscription, was originally in the collection of Edwin Atlee Barber and was illustrated in his Tulip Ware of the Pennsylvania-German Potters (1903). Sgraffito decoration–the act of incising the surface to reveal the clay body beneath–characterizes many of the ceramics created in Bucks County in the Pennsylvania German tradition. Such pottery features exuberant colors and ornamentation through traditional decorative motifs, including the bird, tulip, and star shapes that decorate this plate.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Arts of the Americas

Artist

Rudolph Drach

Title

Plate

Place

Bedminster (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.

1792

Medium

Earthenware (redware), cream-colored slip, and colored lead glazes

Inscriptions

Signed, inscribed, and dated front, top-left through top-middle, incised: "rudolf drach / hefner in bädmin / ster / daùnschile / 1792 [Rudolf Drach / potter in Bedmin / ster / township / 1792]".

Dimensions

4.8 × 28.7 × 28.7 cm (1 15/16 × 11 5/16 × 11 5/16 in.)

Credit Line

Field Museum Exchange

Reference Number

1907.122

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/87918/manifest.json

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.

Share

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Learn more

Image actions

Share