“Fancy Rockingham” Pottery: The Modeller and Ceramics in Nineteenth-Century America September 9, 2004 to June 26, 2005 Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature University of Richmond Museums On September 9, 2004, the Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature, University of Richmond Museums, opened “Fancy Rockingham” Pottery: The Modeller and Ceramics in Nineteenth-Century America. The exhibition, which remains on view through February 27, 2005, presents more than seventy examples of “Fancy Rockingham” pottery. Selected from several New York collections, the objects highlight the range and variety in styles, glazes, and materials found in these decorative and utilitarian ceramics from the nineteenth century. Evolving from English roots to designs originating in America, Rockingham ceramics became distinctly American through the creations of the ornamental designers whose works crisscrossed the country. The Rockingham pottery in the exhibition, presented in thematic groups, is explored in terms of the designers and the modellers who created the forms and decorations, the methods used in their production, and the commercial potteries that made them. The term “Rockingham” originated in the late-eighteenth century to describe a dark brown glaze created by potters in Yorkshire, England, working at the estate of the Marquis of Rockingham. American potters who immigrated from England in the early 1800s, adapted the glaze and its application techniques to the tastes of the new market, where it quickly became one of the most popular wares of the mid-nineteenth century.
Diana Stradling, an independent scholar and guest curator of the exhibition, states in her catalogue essay, “Rockingham, in the strict interpretation of the word as it is used today, is a brown glaze, but we are using it as a metaphor for the whole range of American ware which, when relief-molded with decorative or ornamental or narrative patterns, was called ‘fancy goods’ in its day, whatever the color.” Prominent modellers with works highlighted in the exhibition include Daniel Greatbatch (who worked in Bennington, Vermont, and Peoria, Illinois) and Charles Coxon (who worked in Baltimore, Maryland, and South Amboy, New Jersey), Josiah Jones, and Stephen Theis. Thematic groupings within the exhibition include a selection of the very popular Rebekah-at-the-Well teapots featuring the Biblical character Rebekah, animal figures from lions to cows to poodles, utilitarian wares from foot warmers to chamber pots, and hound-handled pitchers that often depict a boar hunt on one side and a stag hunt on the other. The latter are so named for their dog-shaped handles in which the dog’s head rests at the rim of the pitcher and the hind feet connect with the bowl below. In addition to skills and techniques, British-born potters also brought popular motifs. The “Toby” jugs and mug in the exhibition feature a popular English character, Toby Fillpot, the subject of an eighteenth-century English barroom ballad. The “Discovering the Maker” section of the exhibition places objects with shards that have recently been discovered at several archeological excavations. Organized by the University of Richmond Museums, the exhibition was curated by Diana Stradling, an independent scholar. Published by the University of Richmond Museums, an illustrated catalogue with essays by the curator and William B. Liebeknecht, Principal Investigator, Hunter Research, Inc., Trenton, New Jersey, is available. Concurrently on view at the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, is the exhibition Stoneware Pottery of Eastern Virginia (September 11, 2004 to February 1, 2005). This exhibition features nearly 50 objects representative of the utilitarian salt-glazed stoneware that was manufactured between 1720 and 1865 from potteries in Richmond, Yorktown, Petersburg, Charles City, and Alexandria. Together, “Fancy Rockingham” Pottery and Stoneware Pottery of Eastern Virginia offer a wonderful overview of American stoneware pottery from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.