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American Encaustic Co Ceramic Box attr. to Frederick Rhead, Strong Museum
$1,750
£1,338.03
€1,531.59
CA$2,467.71
A$2,686.38
CHF 1,434.06
MX$32,430.77
NOK 18,031.48
SEK 16,759.07
DKK 11,438.79
About the Item
The unusual decorative ceramic box features complex Chinoiserie style decor in relief, with bright orange, cinnabar colored semi-matte glaze. The central design on the lid depicts human figures in Asian clothes, standing in a garden or rural landscape; it is framed by the band of abstract designs, and the sides of both lid and box are decorated with abstract geometric decor. The gentle pooling of the glaze creates a soft tone-on-tone color gradation within the monochromatic palette of the pices, and the molded relief decor interprets the traditional Chinese carved cinnabar boxes in medium of pottery. The convenient size allows the box to be used as a decorative storage piece on a table of a shelf, as a dresser box, as fireplace mantel decor, or as a jewelry storage.
The box is marked with the "AETCO" mark in circular design that was in use since 1913, and both lid and box are marked with the museum catalogue numbers, as the piece was previously in collection of Margaret Woodbury Strong Museum. American Encaustic closed in 1935, allowing us to date the piece to 1913-1935; it also allows us to confidently attribute the design of the box to Frederic Rhead based not only stylistically, but also on the production dates of the piece.
At the peak of American Encaustic's success, its principal designers were Herman Carl Mueller, Leon Victor Solon, and Frederic Rhead. Mueller worked for the Kensington Tile Works (Newport, Kentucky), Matt Morgan Art Pottery (Cincinnati, Ohio), the Brighton Terra Cotta Factory (Indianapolis, Indiana), and the United States Encaustic Tiling Company in Indianapolis (1886), before he became associated with the American Encaustic Tiling Company in Zanesville in 1887, as a modeler. Mueller generally modeled his figures in high relief, the setting in low relief, and the background details in negative relief or intaglio. His tiles usually used Classical subjects, but he also designed with Egyptian, Persian, Medieval, Italian Renaissance, and American Indian motifs. Mueller left American Encaustic to start Mosaic Tile Company of Zanesville, Ohio, in 1894. Fine examples of Mueller's work can be found in important museums nationwide, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Minneapolis Institute of Art.
After Mueller left in 1893, the design and modeling were led by his successors, Leon Victor Solon (1872-1957), who belonged to a great French and British ceramic family, and Frederick Hiirten Rhead (1880-1942), who also belonged to a great British family of potters. Leon Victor Solon was a son of renowned French porcelain modeler and decorator Louis-Marc Solon, whose works in pate-sur-pate technique can be found in the Philadelphia Museum of Art; Leon Victor was influenced by his father in his attraction to Greek motifs. From 1912 to 1925, Leon Victor worked for American Encaustic Tiling Company in their New York office in the positions of art director, tile designer, and interior decorator. He not only designed tiles and architectural details, but also published a great number of articles on ceramics and architecture. There are only a handful of tiles that have been documented as Solon's work; a large majority of his tiles were designed around Greek themes, probably stemming from the extensive studying of Greek vases and decorations, with some figure tiles based on primitive art.
Under American Encaustic research director, Frederick Hiirten Rhead, the company began to experiment more with glazes and its "art tile" products. Rhead arrived to USA in 1902; he moved to Zanesville, Ohio, to work for S. A. Weller Pottery (1904) and later for Roseville Pottery (1904-1908). While employed at Weller as designer, Rhead contributed important designs to the pottery's repertoire, several of which he signed. Rhead was subsequently offered the position of Art Director for Roseville Pottery in 1904, where was responsible for five lines, Olympic, Crystalis, Fudji, Della Robbia, and Aztec. In 1914, he had established his own pottery, the Rhead Pottery of Santa Barbara; it was quite successful, and he won the Gold Medal at the Panama California Exposition in San Diego in 1915. In 1917 Rhead was recruited by the American Encaustic Tiling Company; from 1917 to 1927 Rhead was employed as director of research and was also responsible for setting up an Arts and Crafts Division for the production of art pottery. The designs that are documented to him include platters decorated with naturalistic motifs and glazed with an iridescent polychrome, as well as many animal-based designs; some of his works were influenced by pieces from his own collection of Chinese and Japanese porcelains.
Provenance:
The piece was in collection of Margaret Woodbury Strong Museum, later simply known as Strong Museum, which is now Strong National Museum of Play (since 2006); it was released via deacquisition sale. Established in 1969 in Rochester, NY, the museum was initially based on the personal collection of Rochester native Margaret Woodbury Strong. The original mission of the museum was to interpret the social and cultural history of average Americans between 1830 and 1940; Mrs. Strong's collections of dolls and toys, American and European decorative arts, prints, paintings, Japanese crafts, and advertising ephemera provided a firm foundation for this mission. Later the museum changed its mission to collecting, preserving, and interpreting the history of play.
Margaret Woodbury (1897-1969) was the only child of wealthy Victorian parents John Charles Woodbury and Alice Motley Woodbury, who spent a significant amount of time traveling the globe; Margaret was accompanying her parents, both passionate collectors, from an early age, gradually becoming an avid collector herself. She inherited and meticulously maintained the collections both parents had acquired over their lifetimes; after the death of her husband, she fully devoted herself to adding to her existing collections, with her interests spread to a variety of collecting areas, such as dolls, dollhouses, miniatures, books, bookplates, paintings, artwork, shells, and various antiques, including Asian and Japanese artifacts that were an area of special interest of her mother.
We are offering multiple pieces of ceramics and glass, that were released from the former Strong Museum, in separate listings.
Sculptural, colorful decorative box, distinguished with elegant form, high quality craftsmanship, and statement piece presence, will make a great gift to a collector or design enthusiast and a perfect addition to a wide range of interiors, from Traditional to Victorian, Chinoiserie, Arts and Crafts, Transitional, Grand Millennial, Glam, Hollywood Regency, Collected, or Contemporary.
- Creator:Charlotte Rhead (Artist)
- Dimensions:Height: 2.55 in (6.48 cm)Width: 7.5 in (19.05 cm)Depth: 4.75 in (12.07 cm)
- Style:Chinoiserie (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1913-1935
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Clifton Springs, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU4421147671482
Roman Erlikh
Roman Erlikh is a professional woodworker with over 20 years’ experience. Roman Erlikh Studio creates bespoke and limited edition contemporary furniture and art objects. His first furniture collections were inspired by traditional Art Deco and Biedermeier styles interpreted through a modern lifestyle demands. Stepping away from merely utilitarian view of everyday objects, his recent collections are filled with meaningful textual context while incorporating traditional and modern woodworking techniques. Roman is using practical function as a common denominator to create emotionally charged art objects, blurring the boundary between art and function. While appreciating possibilities of ordinary materials, Roman is developing new mixed media multilayered composite varnishes and utilizes decorative gilding and mica veneer to actively engage ambient light, giving an additional aspect to relation of his objects to their environment. The decision to work in custom format was based on environmental concerns and opposition to culture of mass production and pure consumerism. The choice of materials was heavily influenced by sustainability and environmental concerns. All objects are made locally in the Brooklyn Navy Yard workshop. Elimination of storage and transportation needs for mass-produced furniture in lieu of creating a custom made objects on demand allows us to reduce waste of materials and energy.
About the Seller
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