Sauce Boat
1 of 8
Caption
Gousse Bonnin; George Anthony Morris; American China Manufactory. Sauce Boat, 1771–1772. Porcelain, with handle: 4 1/8 x 3 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. (10.5 x 8.9 x 19.1 cm) without handle: 3 13/16 x 3 1/2 x 6 3/8 in. (9.7 x 8.9 x 16.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 42.412. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 42.412_SL1.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Title
Sauce Boat
Date
1771–1772
Geography
Place made: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Medium
Porcelain
Classification
Dimensions
with handle: 4 1/8 x 3 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. (10.5 x 8.9 x 19.1 cm) without handle: 3 13/16 x 3 1/2 x 6 3/8 in. (9.7 x 8.9 x 16.2 cm)
Inscriptions
Outside base is marked with a small "P" in pale blue under the glaze.
Credit Line
Dick S. Ramsay Fund
Accession Number
42.412
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
I've just read Chernow's Hamilton biography and in it, he covers the fact that many imports still came in from Europe - even porcelain. They highlight the fact that the ordering of porcelain took many weeks longer to arrive in the United States than other cargo from Europe. I'm wondering if it's because the English ordered from China and controlled supplies to America?
That's absolutely true. America was incredibly reliant on Britain for manufactured goods, and throughout the 18th and 19th century they were our biggest trading partner. Prior to the revolution, Chinese imports to America were mediated by British traders. But also, England was a major manufacturer of ceramics themselves. If you are on the fifth floor, we have some really early and rare examples of American porcelain dating to the colonial period! Only a few pieces of these exist in the world. Unfortunately, fledgling American companies struggled to compete with the influx of English and Chinese ceramics.
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