Mug

Public Domain

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Images(3)

Maker E. & W. Bennett(American, active 1848–1856)American, active 1848–1856

Modeler Charles Coxon (American, 1805–1868)American, 1805–1868

CultureAmerican

Titles

Datec. 1850–1855

Made inBaltimore, Maryland, United States

MediumLead-glazed earthenware (Rockingham ware)

Dimensions4 1/4 × 5 1/8 × 3 3/4 in. (10.8 × 13 × 9.5 cm)

Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Jas A. Gundry

Object numberB.2013.22

Current Location

Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens

Maple Bedroom

On view

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Department

Bayou Bend

Object Type

CERAMICS

DescriptionWith the increasing use of the pitcher and basin for personal hygiene within the American home in the early nineteenth century, the need lessened for the large barber's basin, designed to hold water and to catch the soap and whiskers removed when shaving. About 1830 the shaving mug—a new, smaller, more easily handled form—was introduced. The straight-sided beverage mug was adapted, and a compartment was added to hold the shaving soap, occasionally on the outside or more commonly inside the lip (as seen on the present example). The Bennett design, with the relief ornament on each side, evokes the Toby form. The applied handle is log shaped.
ProvenanceJas A. Gundry, Houston; given to MFAH, 2013.
Published References Edwin Atlee Barber. Marks of American Potters. Ann Arbor: Ars Ceramica, 1976. pp. 55–56, 143. Barret, Richard Carter. "Bennington Pottery and Porcelain; A Guide to Identification. New York: Crown Publishers, 1958. p. 97. Lehner, Lois. "Lehner's Encyclopedia of U.S. Marks on Pottery, Porcelain & Clay." Paducah, KY: Collector Books, 1988. p. 44. Stradling, Diana, et al. "Fancy Rockingham" "Pottery: The Modeller and Ceramics in Nineteenth-Century America." Richmond, VA: University of Richmond Museums, 2005. pp. 20–25. For a mug by the same maker, B.57.24, in the Bayou Bend Collection, see Warren, David B., et al. "American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection." Houston: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in association with Princeton University Press, 1998. p. 383, C3. Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Marked on bottom: E&W BENNETT / CANTON-AVENUE / BALTIMORE, Md.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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