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Accession #	68.87.35a-b
Manufacturer	Union Porcelain Works
Title	Sugar Bowl and Cover
Date	ca. 1876
Medium	Porcelain
Dimensions	4 1/8 x 3 3/4 x 3 1/2 in. (10.5 x 9.5 x 8.9 cm)
Marks	Printed on underside of sugar bowl in green: "U.P.W." above head of an eagle
Inscriptions	no inscriptions
Signed	no signature
Credit Line	Gift of Franklin Chace
Location	Visible Storage: Case 36, Shelf P (Ceramics)
Description	Sugar bowl (a) with lid (b), white porcelain with vitreous glaze; hotel china. Cylindrical body that tapers toward top; molded band near top and bottom edge; two opposing handles molded in shape of shell. Fitted lid is slightly domed, knobbed finial. Condition: Good; hairline crack around finial of lid at join.

Curatorial Remarks: 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.