House & Garden 
EARLY PENNSYLVANIA WORK 
XI. — Pic-Plate made by David Spinner XII .—Large Mug with Tulip Design, 
in Bucks Co., Penn a., about 1S00 Maker Unknown 
interesting facts to he learned 
through the study of their pottery 
are those relating to the horti¬ 
cultural achievements of the early 
settlers. We know that the 
people were lovers of flowers 
and that they paid considerable 
attention to the cultivation of 
their gardens, but we do not find 
in their literature any mention of 
their ornamental plants. The 
simple flower and its foliage 
figured on their oldest ware. 
The tulip, which they cultivated 
extensively, was one of their 
favorite motives. Next to the 
tulip in popular estimation was 
the fuchsia or ear-drop ( oehr - 
droppen). Later we find the lily- 
of-the-valley and occasionally the 
dahlia represented on their ware. 
While in time these delinea¬ 
tions became modified by a more or less 
conventional treatment, they usually retained 
their distinguishing characteristics, by which 
they can be readily recognized. 
The art of slip decoration had been prac¬ 
tised in Germany for many years before the 
German immigration into Pennsylvania had 
commenced. Kxamples of this ware were 
brought to America from time to time, by 
arriving settlers, and served as models for 
the potters here. These old pieces are still 
LARGE FLOWER VASE 
XIII .—With “ Pie-c rust ” Ledge and Bird and Flower designs above. 
Made by Samuel Troxcl, Bucks Co., Penna 
From the Collection in the Pennsylvania Museum 
From the Collection in the Pennsylvania Museum 
occasionally found in some of the country 
houses within a distance of fifty miles from 
Philadelphia. They are distinguishable from 
the products of the Pennsylvania potters bv 
the brighter color of the red clay and by the 
black glaze which covered them. A fine 
specimen of the imported ware (shown in 
Kig. I) has for a central design a rudely 
traced house and tree, with the date “ Anno 
1826” beneath. On the roof of the build¬ 
ing is perched a bird, while a woman stands 
at the threshold plucking flowers from an 
enormous garden vase. The coloring of 
the slips is varied and vivid. 
The dishes bearing the oldest dates were 
flat on the bottom, with straight sloping 
sicies (see Pig. II). These were used for 
vegetables or for meat pies and answered the 
double purpose of dish and platter. The 
curved pie-plate, which is a later form, is 
indigenous to this country, the home of the 
fruit pie, and is not found in Europe (see 
Pigs. IX, X and XI). The sgraffito style of 
decoration offered greater possibilities to the 
ceramic artist than the more clumsy method 
of tracing liquid slips through a quill. 
Soon after the death of our first president, 
some of the German potters sought to per¬ 
petuate his memory by depicting him in 
Continental uniform, mounted on a horse, 
d'he representation shown in P'ig. X, was a 
237 
