Isaac Broome, an American sculptor and ceramic modeler, produced designs for the pottery firm Ott and Brewer, which seem to have been interpreted exclusively in Parian ware. This medium, an unglazed porcelain, captures sculptural detail with an immediacy that cannot be realized with glazed porcelain. Because of these qualities, Parian was often employed as a medium for reproducing sculpture. Today, Broome is best known for his monumental pieces. A number of these were intended for the Centennial International Exhibition of 1876 in Philadelphia’s Fairmont Park—an event that ceramic historians credit as having the greatest impact on the development of American porcelain.

While Broome created his figure of Franklin in 1876, there is no record of it being exhibited at the Philadelphia Centennial; however, it seems reasonable that Ott and Brewer would have included a likeness of the city’s most famous son in their display. The following year, a version was exhibited at the American Institute Fair in New York City, as evidenced by a glass plate negative that descended in the Broome family. It is possible that this portrait may have been an artist’s model rather than a finished version. Rather than Parian, which is characteristic of Broome’s finished figures, the bust is a light gray biscuit. Furthermore, it is not marked by Ott and Brewer, but, instead, is hand incised on the reverse: BROOME. / Sc. / 1876. These aspects distinguish this version from the known Parian examples.