Tankard

Manufactured by Tressemann & Vogt, Decorated by Isabel Hunt Bourne

About 1905

See More of the Collection

Snail Trail quilt, pink and green, (see other quilt from same family - machine appliqued Princess Feather quilt)
A figural jug depicting an African-American man with exaggerated facial features, particularly his caricatured lips, nose and ears. His curly hair is formed by incised repeating loops, resembling scribbles. He wears a cap, hoop earrings, shirt with a stand up collar (and single visible stud or button), cravat, and a coat with broad lapels and buttons impressed with “J. LEHMAN,” the maker’s name. A large, buckle-like square probably surrounded a paper label for whatever product the jug contained. The figure has arms, but no hands, and is rendered to appear as if his hands are shoved in the pockets of his coat. There are small air holes at the back of each arm to prevent an explosion during firing. The jug’s handle is a shaped like the number 9, and is finished (where the tail of the handle meets the body of the jug) with a mold-formed grape and grape leaf motif found in some of Lehman’s other decorated vessels. There appears to be an oval incised on the bottom of the vessel.
Blown glass vessel that was dusted with Kugler powder to create stone texture. Cuts made with a diamond saw.
Large bedcovering, or quilt top, of English cotton chintzes and stripes, and copperplate printed fabrics, with dozens of individual leaves, flowers and birds fastened with buttonhole stitches to a white ground in an applique method known as "broderie perse," the main design forms the Tree of Life pattern with an oversized parrot perched on a limb at the top of the tree, the trunk springs from a bowl containing two ovals of copperplate-printed fabric with the inscription on one reading, "Whittingdon at Holloway hearing bowbells ring," and "Turn down Whittingdon, Lord Mayor of Great London," and on the other, "Whittingdon presents his cat a V--," and "Whittingdon brought Poor Puss and delivered her to the captain with tears in his eyes," embroidered grape clusters are paired with long-beaked birds with appliqued heads and wings, four additional birds fly in the background, each corner of the central medallion is decorated with a different composition of flowers and leaves, the border appliqued of flowers and leaves between one single striped and one double striped border, the outermost border in reverse applique with scrolls, leaves and flowers, and finished with a final frame of four stripes.