Vase
1 of 5
Object Label
Union Porcelain Works (UPW), the most famous and longest lived of the Brooklyn ceramic firms, was established by Thomas Carll Smith after he bought out his partners at the earlier William Boch & Brothers pottery. UPW produced a wide range of wares that appealed to a broad spectrum of consumers: art pottery, porcelain tableware sets, hotel and restaurant ceramics, Parian ware figures, and even elaborately decorated water filters.
In 1874 UPW hired Karl L. H. Mueller (American, b. Germany, 1820–1887) to design special wares for the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. He created highly original designs that featured unique North American iconography of native animals and scenes of national history that helped UPW distinguish itself from its European competitors.
Caption
Union Porcelain Works 1863–ca. 1922. Vase, ca. 1884. Porcelain, 14 7/8 x 6 1/4 x 6 1/4 in. (37.8 x 15.9 x 15.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Franklin Chace, 68.87.44. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 68.87.44_view2_PS9.jpg)
Manufacturer
Title
Vase
Date
ca. 1884
Geography
Place manufactured: Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York, United States
Medium
Porcelain
Classification
Dimensions
14 7/8 x 6 1/4 x 6 1/4 in. (37.8 x 15.9 x 15.9 cm)
Signatures
no signature
Inscriptions
no inscriptions
Markings
Printed on underside: partial mark in brown of "UNION / PORCELAIN / WORKS / GREENPOINT / N.Y."; and mark in green, "U.P.W." above head of an eagle Incised into ground (beneath glaze) on underside: "U.P.W. / 1884"
Credit Line
Gift of Franklin Chace
Accession Number
68.87.44
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
Frequent Art Questions
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This vase was produced in c. 1875 at the Union Porcelain Works of Brooklyn, which was the biggest porcelain manufacturer in the country during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. .The decorative pattern and sculptural lizards are an example of the ornate art pottery that was collected for display in the home.
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