Rudolph T. Lux
Cup and Saucer

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Cup and Saucer
Date1868
Decorated inNew Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Porcelain made inEurope
MediumPorcelain with enamel and gliding
DimensionsCup: 3 1/8 × 4 1/4 × 3 7/16 in. (7.9 × 10.8 × 8.7 cm)
Saucer: 1 3/16 × 6 3/8 in. (3 × 16.2 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by the Houston Junior Woman's Club
Object numberB.96.3.1,.2
Not on view

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Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

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 212]; [The Stradlings, New York]; purchased by MFAH, 1996.
Exhibition History"Currents of Change: Art and Life Along the Mississippi River, 1850–1861" on display at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, Minnesota from June 27–September 26, 2004 and at the LSU Museum of Art, Baton Rouge, Louisiana from June 17–October 9, 2005. (OL.168)
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
R.T. Lux / Painter & Decorator / on China / No. 116 Bienville / N.O. / La
[no marks]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Plate
Rudolph T. Lux
1868
Porcelain with enamel and gilding
B.96.4
Cup and Saucer
c. 1840–1845
Porcelain with enamel and gilding
B.97.16.1,.2
Doctor Syntax
James Ward
1823
Lithograph, proof before lettering
99.486
Cup and Saucer
Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
1781
Hard-paste porcelain with enamel and gilding
2019.10.A,.B
Cup and Saucer with Revolutionary Emblems
Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
1794
Hard-paste porcelain with enamel and gilding
2019.488.A,.B
Saucer, Part of Coffee Cup and Saucer
Worcester Porcelain Manufactory
c. 1758–1760
Porcelain
86.163.2
Saucer
Nicholas Laudin I
c. 1660–1690
Enamel and copper
74.261.2
Coffee Cup, Part of Coffee Cup and Saucer
Worcester Porcelain Manufactory
c. 1758–1760
Porcelain
86.163.1
Cup
Nicholas Laudin I
1660–1690
Enamel and copper
74.261.1
A. Menzel, G. Hartmann, M. Manuckiam, and N. Rubinstein
T. Lux (Theodor Lukus) Feininger
1928
Gelatin silver print
83.157
Black-White
T. Lux (Theodor Lukus) Feininger
1928
Gelatin silver print
83.156
Werner Siedhoff (faculty), Naphtali Rubinstein and Albert Menzel (students), Bauhaus, Dessau
T. Lux (Theodor Lukus) Feininger
c. 1930
Gelatin silver print
83.158