Platter
Age: C. 1835
Material: Ceramic
Maker: Adams
Description: Red colored transfer printed scene titled incorrectly verso ' The Falls of Niagara, U S' and marked with Adams eagle and cornucopia.
Size: 17.75" x 14.75"
Weight: 3 pounds 7 ounces
Condition: Some scratching to the obverse and an old chip on the reverse.
History: The history of the United States Military Academy can be traced to fortifications constructed on the West Point of the Hudson River during the American Revolutionary War in 1778. Following the war, President Thomas Jefferson signed legislation establishing the United States Military Academy (USMA) on the site in 1802. In 1817 the Academy was transformed by the appointment of Sylvanus Thayer who drastically reformed the curriculum.William Adams III of Fenton Hall and Bagnall (1772 -1829.), was the son of Richard Adams of Cobridge (1739-1811) and was the founder of the firm whose products are featured on this site. Having been in an earlier partnership for some years, William III set up on his own account at Cliff Bank, Stoke in 1804, where he manufactured general earthenware including blue printed pottery. William III had four sons: from 1819 onwards he successively took his sons into partnership and the business was extended to a very large size, by the mid-19th century occupying no less than six factories, both at Stoke and Tunstall. It is written that William, son of William Adams III had travelled to America and established a business in New York in the name of Adams Brothers. This is difficult to confirm, but John Ridgway noted meeting Mr Adams of Stoke when he was in New York in November, 1822[ii]. The firm had an extensive American trade and the letters of Matthew Smith, the Baltimore importer, to his Liverpool agents contain several references to his dealings with them; that of 11th November 1826 includes the most detailed:. ‘..You may try Heath or Adams. Try and get a new, tasty shape for the blue print’d Jugs or for a part of them – a shape there was a sample of from Adams on a foot, I think, would please – only it must be entirely covered on the outside – on the samples there is a bare streak by the foot.…I have nothing to say against the Blue Print’d Table Ware from Adams, it will do again. The fancy cans were a poor article & too dear. The painted ware – Bowls, Sugars, Creams appear to be the small sizes – 12/30 doz. Of Ginder’s fancy Col’d are worth 5 Cts pr doz. more than the painted Bowls of Adams…’[iii] The very substantial quantity of marked pieces to be found in America is indicative both of the size of the firm and the importance of its export trade to the United States. Documentary evidence dating to 1840-41 gives the number of employees at the three factories comprising the Lower Works Stoke as 578 and states We do chiefly with the North and South American market, and but little for home [iv]. Despite the size of the business, only two printed patterns in the dark blue tone with specifically American subjects have been recorded; one is ‘The Seal of the United States’, the other ‘Mitchell & Freeman’s China and Glass Warehouse, Chatham St, Boston.’ The subject matter of the latter helpfully dates it to around 1828-31, placing wares with this pattern towards the latter end of the fashionable period for the very dark blue.