Faience Manufacturing Co. (1881-1892), Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York
Decoration attributed to Edward Lycett (1833-1910) c. 1884-87

This pair of gilt-decorated urns with scroll handles was made by Faience Manufacturing Company. Their decoration is closely related to that on a large vase at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which they attribute to Edward Lycett, the artistic director at FMCo. from 1884 to 1887. Lycett was credited as “the pioneer of China painting in America” by Edwin Atlee Barber in his seminal work on American pottery and porcelains. The deep cobalt hue of the gilt-decorated sgraffito portion of these urns is specifically identified with Lycett’s work and was based on the color of 18th Century French Sevres porcelain, which he greatly admired. Both vases are marked with “FMCo” and impressed with the potter’s form number, “398,” as well as the handpainted decorator’s number, “93.”

DESCRIPTION: 

Glazed earthenware with blue, beige and brown painted decoration, as well as raised floral motifs on the mid-section and distinctive aesthetic sgraffito on the azure base.

CONDITION: 

Crazing; wear to gilt around top of one; frit.

LITERATURE: 

Bolger, Doreen, Jonathan Freedman, Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen, et al, In Pursuit of Beauty: Americans and the Aesthetic Movement. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Rizzoli, 1986, p. 208 and fig. 7.8. 
Also see Barber, E. A., The Pottery and Porcelain of the United States, 3rd Ed. (reprinted 1976). New York: Feingold & Lewis/J&J Publishers, pp. 313-319; and also Barbara Veith, “Edward Lycett and the Faience Manufacturing Company,” Antiques Magazine, July 2001, pp. 84-91, for a discussion of Faience Manufacturing Co. and the significance of Edward Lycett.

MARKED: 

“FMCo” (conjoined) and impressed “398” (potter’s number) and also “93”(handpainted).

SIZE: 9 ¼” h x 5 ¾” diam.

PRICE: On request.

CALL NUMBER: 567-II-O