American Pottery Company
Cuspidor or Spitoon

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Cuspidor or Spitoon
Datec. 1840–1850
Made inJersey City, New Jersey, United States
MediumLead-glazed earthenware (Rockingham ware)
Dimensions3 × 7 1/4 in. diameter (7.6 × 18.4 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by Robert D. Jameson
Object numberB.88.20
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Ceramics Study Room
On view

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

The cuspidor, which takes its name from the Latin and old French words meaning to spit, is a vessel designed to sit on the floor and receive either spittle or expectorated tobacco. Traditionally the form has an inward sloping upper section that drains into the lower body. With a large population of tobacco chewers in nineteenth-century America, the form, produced in both ceramics and metalwares, found widespread use.  Despite its mundane purpose, the designer of this example aspired to be more stylish, as evidenced by the finely molded classical anthemion on the sides and the classical fluting on the upper section.

 

Related Examples: Classicism was not the only high-style reference for American Pottery Co. cuspidors. For an octagonal example inspired by medieval motifs, see New Jersey Pottery 1972, no. 41. 

 

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.


Provenance[W. M. Schwind, Jr. Antiques and Fine Art, Yarmouth, Maine]; purchased by MFAH, 1988.
Exhibition History"Containers and Vessels" The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 21, 1989–January 1990 Subsequent tour

Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
[no inscriptions]
Impressed on bottom: AMERICAN / POTTERY Co / JERSEY CITY NJ [ Barber 1976a, p.44; Thorn 1947, p. 115, no. 16]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

Mug
c. 1844–1858
Lead-glazed earthenware (Rockingham ware)
B.63.113
Mug
c. 1845–1858
Lead-glazed earthenware (Rockingham ware)
B.63.114
Candlestick
mid-19th century
Lead-glazed earthenware (Rockingham ware)
B.57.37.1
Mug
c. 1844–1858
Lead-glazed earthenware (Rockingham ware)
B.57.38
Foot Warmer
c. 1847–1858
Lead-glazed earthenware (Rockingham ware)
B.57.39.A,.B
Pitcher
c. 1855–1875
Lead-glazed earthenware (Rockingham ware)
B.63.17
Figure of a Lion (one of a pair)
c. 1840–1860
Lead-glazed earthenware (Rockingham ware)
B.71.14.2
Figure of a Lion (one of a pair)
c. 1840–1860
Lead-glazed earthenware (Rockingham ware)
B.71.14.1
Jardinière
c. 1850–1860
Lead-glazed earthenware (Rockingham ware)
B.64.1.A,.B
Flask
c. 1850–1860s
Lead-glazed earthenware (Rockingham ware)
B.57.26
Pitcher
c. 1849–1858
Lead-glazed earthenware (Rockingham ware)
B.57.48
Dish
19th century
Lead-glazed earthenware (Rockingham ware)
B.63.81