Summary: Social Change Amongst American Drinkware
Social Change Amongst American Drinkware
While walking through the Art of the Americas wing in the Museum of Fine Arts, one can see the change in American history by walking room to room as well floor to floor. America has developed year after year since the beginning of its establishment. Throughout time, different media and new techniques were practiced in American art history. Richard Humphreys’ Coffeepot (1770) and Karl H. L. Müller’s Pitcher (1876) are examples of how styles, techniques, materials, as well as society as a whole changed over a century. According to a journal about Early American silver, “The first American silver of consequence appeared about 1660, and the last of any great note was the work of Paul Revere who died in 1816” (Coney 1). With this in mind, it is no surprise that around 1770, …show more content…
In a 1893 essay, Edwin Atlee Barber states, “it has for centuries commanded the admiration of men and is the highest development of the potter's art” (Barber 19). Karl H. L. Müller’s porcelain pitcher was designed for Union Porcelain Works around 1876 in Brooklyn, New York. The pitcher’s style could be seen at first glance as a mixture of both Rococo and Neoclassical aspects. However, although the colors may seem light and airy, the imagery has a rather satire, as well as slightly racist aura.
On one side of the pitcher depicts King Gambrinus, the “mythical king of beer” introducing the drink to Uncle Sam. Traveling to the handle the shape of a bear-like figure holds on to the lid of the vessel, while on the opposite side a walrus-looking figure becomes the spout. The image that is most talked about when referencing this pitcher is a scene from an 1870 Bret Harte poem titled “The Heathen Chinee”. This image depicts a Californian miner ready to kill a Chinese immigrant for cheating at a game of cards. The meaning that this piece later took will be discussed in an ensuing
While walking through the Art of the Americas wing in the Museum of Fine Arts, one can see the change in American history by walking room to room as well floor to floor. America has developed year after year since the beginning of its establishment. Throughout time, different media and new techniques were practiced in American art history. Richard Humphreys’ Coffeepot (1770) and Karl H. L. Müller’s Pitcher (1876) are examples of how styles, techniques, materials, as well as society as a whole changed over a century. According to a journal about Early American silver, “The first American silver of consequence appeared about 1660, and the last of any great note was the work of Paul Revere who died in 1816” (Coney 1). With this in mind, it is no surprise that around 1770, …show more content…
In a 1893 essay, Edwin Atlee Barber states, “it has for centuries commanded the admiration of men and is the highest development of the potter's art” (Barber 19). Karl H. L. Müller’s porcelain pitcher was designed for Union Porcelain Works around 1876 in Brooklyn, New York. The pitcher’s style could be seen at first glance as a mixture of both Rococo and Neoclassical aspects. However, although the colors may seem light and airy, the imagery has a rather satire, as well as slightly racist aura.
On one side of the pitcher depicts King Gambrinus, the “mythical king of beer” introducing the drink to Uncle Sam. Traveling to the handle the shape of a bear-like figure holds on to the lid of the vessel, while on the opposite side a walrus-looking figure becomes the spout. The image that is most talked about when referencing this pitcher is a scene from an 1870 Bret Harte poem titled “The Heathen Chinee”. This image depicts a Californian miner ready to kill a Chinese immigrant for cheating at a game of cards. The meaning that this piece later took will be discussed in an ensuing