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Rudolph T. Lux, a German-born porcelain painter who set up shop in New Orleans in the mid-1850s, advertised “porcelains and china sceneries.” The present examples, from the end of Lux's career, embody a number of facets pertaining exclusively to New Orleans. Horse racing was introduced there in 1838 and became enormously popular. The horse Dexter made a record-breaking run in 1867, and the Currier and Ives print, Celebrated Horse Dexter, The King of the World, issued immediately thereafter, made his name synonymous with speed. Speed was essential for the steamships that were the lifeblood of New Orleans. This porcelain was painted by Lux for use on board the Dexter, a boat of the Louisville, Evansville, and New Orleans line, which was commissioned in 1868.
Related Examples: A plate from the steamboat MS Mepham (Leonard 1949, p. 219, no. 331); a Black Hawk saucer at the Historic New Orleans Collection (acc. no. 1957.21b).
Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.
ProvenanceBert Fenn (1918–1993), Tel City, Indiana; [Collection of the late Bert Fenn, Garth's Auctions, Stratford, Ohio, June 25, 1994, lot 211]; [The Stradlings, New York]; purchased by MFAH, 1996.
Exhibition History"Currents of Change: Art and Life Along the Mississippi River, 1850–1861," Minneapolis Institute of Art, June 27–September 26, 2004; LSU Museum of Art, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, June 17–October 9, 2005.
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