Unknown. <em>Vase, One of a Pair, John Adams</em>, ca. 1826–1830. Porcelain, overglaze enamel, gilt, 17 1/2 x 9 1/2 x 7 in. (44.5 x 24.1 x 17.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund, 47.19.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 47.19.1_PS11.jpg)

Unknown. Vase, One of a Pair, John Adams, ca. 1826–1830. Porcelain, overglaze enamel, gilt, 17 1/2 x 9 1/2 x 7 in. (44.5 x 24.1 x 17.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund, 47.19.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 47.19.1_PS11.jpg)

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Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

What's happening here?

These objects all come from the Decorative Arts collection and have been placed within the American Art wing to show how vases like this, notice that they feature Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, may have been put on display in an elegant early 19th century American home on a table like that one.

Could you please tell me who is the figure behind Thomas Jefferson?

The profile to the left of Jefferson a sculpture bust of Benjamin Franklin, who was a celebrity of his day. The Sèvres porcelain manufactory produced multiple busts of the first U.S. Ambassador to France. While this pair of vases are 'Sevres style', their maker is unknown.

Are those trophies?

They do look like trophies, don't they? They're really ornamental objects that people in the 1800s would have wanted in their home. The vases are shaped like ones in ancient Greece, where democracy was first practiced.

The USA was a new country at the time and people wanted to draw associations between the new Republic and its ancient prototypes.

What technique was used to place the images on the vases?

The portraits are painted directly on the vases in a durable enamel paint. The vases are made of porcelain and heavily gilded. The heavy gilding was typical of early 19th century decoration.

These vases, depicting Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, speak to the level of honor and celebrity surrounding the Founding Fathers of the US.

That's fire

How did the artist paint the portrait on the vase?

The artist applied enamel paint (similar to molten glass) directly to the surface of a vase made of porcelain that has been heavily gilded to resemble solid metal. This style was typical of the early nineteenth century.

Can you tell us more?

This pair of vases feature the second and third presidents of the United States---John Adams and Thomas Jefferson---who both died on the same day: July 4, 1826.

They are in the Empire style, which was part of the later phase of the Neoclassical period. It is called this because the style was driven by designers working in France during the Napoleonic Empire, and often featured objects that glorified Napoleon. In America, designers were looking to France for design inspiration, thus it is also called the Empire Style in America.

Notice the abundance of gilding - this was typical of early 19th-century porcelain decoration. By this time, Europeans had been making porcelain for over 100 years and no longer wished to draw attention to the pure white surface of porcelain, as they had when this material was still new and celebrated.

Vase, One of a Pair, John Adams

Decorative Arts and Design

Depicted on this vase by an unknown French maker is John Adams, the second president of the United States and an ardent supporter of the antislavery movement. Although George Washington and subsequent American presidents utilized slave labor in their households, Adams rejected the practice and instead hired and compensated white and free Black workers for their labor.

MAKER Unknown

MEDIUM Porcelain, overglaze enamel, gilt

Possible Place Made: Paris, France

DATES ca. 1826–1830

DIMENSIONS 17 1/2 x 9 1/2 x 7 in. (44.5 x 24.1 x 17.8 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Decorative Arts and Design

ACCESSION NUMBER 47.19.1

CREDIT LINE Museum Collection Fund

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION One of pair of Sevres vases, Empire form, porcelain, gold ground with portrait on one side, conventional design of banding with medallion on opposite side, scroll handles, square base with circle and leaf decoration. Portrait of John Adams seated at table with green curtains in background. Condition: Good

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view

CAPTION Unknown. Vase, One of a Pair, John Adams, ca. 1826–1830. Porcelain, overglaze enamel, gilt, 17 1/2 x 9 1/2 x 7 in. (44.5 x 24.1 x 17.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund, 47.19.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 47.19.1_PS11.jpg)

IMAGE overall, 47.19.1_PS11.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2020

"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.

RIGHTS STATEMENT 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.

RECORD COMPLETENESS

Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.

Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

What's happening here?

Could you please tell me who is the figure behind Thomas Jefferson?

Are those trophies?

The USA was a new country at the time and people wanted to draw associations between the new Republic and its ancient prototypes.

What technique was used to place the images on the vases?

The portraits are painted directly on the vases in a durable enamel paint. The vases are made of porcelain and heavily gilded. The heavy gilding was typical of early 19th century decoration.

These vases, depicting Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, speak to the level of honor and celebrity surrounding the Founding Fathers of the US.

That's fire

How did the artist paint the portrait on the vase?

Can you tell us more?

This pair of vases feature the second and third presidents of the United States---John Adams and Thomas Jefferson---who both died on the same day: July 4, 1826.

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Vase, One of a Pair, John Adams

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