Brockville Works
Pitcher

MakerAmerican, c. 1850–1907
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Pitcher
Datec. 1850–1907
Made inPennsylvania, United States
MediumLead-glazed earthenware (Rockingham ware)
Dimensions10 1/2 × 7 5/8 × 10 1/4 in. (26.7 × 19.4 × 26 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.63.15
Not on view

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

Daniel Greatbach is generally credited with introducing the so-called Hound pitcher to America, first at the American Pottery Company in Jersey City, New Jersey, and later at Bennington.  This English form is distinguished by a handle in the shape of a greyhound whose rear paws rest on the body and whose forepaws and nose are at the upper lip. The sloping ovoid body is typically ornamented in relief with a stag hunt and the neck with grapevines. The form's enormous popularity is reflected in its widespread production from New England to Maryland and west to Ohio.

Related examples: Barret 1958, pp. 30–33, illustrates similar pitchers made at Bennington.  For New York and New Jersey examples, see Levin 1988, p. 34, figs. 22, 23, and New Jersey Pottery 1972, nos. 30, 31, 119; for a Baltimore example without the shoulder by Bennett, see Perry 1989, p. 45, no. 39.  See also Ketchum 1971, no. 110.

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[George Abraham and Gilbert May Antiques, Granville, Massachusetts]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, 1963; given to MFAH.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
[no inscriptions]
Impressed on underside: BROCKVILLE WORKS / NEAR / POTTSVILLE, SCH'L CO. / PENNA. [Lehner 1988, p. 57]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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