Glass and Porcelain
Exceptional Historical Liverpool Creamware Pitcher With “Triple” American Flagged Navy Frigate Orange Transfers
c. 1796 to 1803 Federal Era, Historical Liverpool Creamware Pitcher, Two Extremely Rare “Orange” Color Transfers, American Navy Frigate Warship and “Come Box the Compass,” Choice Extremely Fine.
This remarkable Federal Era Historic Liverpool Pitcher stands 7.75” tall x 8.5” wide from the tip of the spout to the back of the handle. It has a wonderful, rare and historic Orange transfer of an American Navy Frigate Warship at full sail. It bears three impressive American Flags, two on the mast tops and a larger one on the stern. On the opposite side is another rare Orange decoration transfer in celebration of the invention of the compass titled, “Come Box the Compass.” That vivid Orange transfer image features an intricate compass vignette with a banner above, reading: “Come Box the Compass.” Below, there is a brief history of the compass’s development, in full: “Invented by Murphy a Dutchman AD 1229 first exhibited at Venice 1260 Improved by Giora of Naples 1309 its declination discovered by Hartman 1538.” A Sailor stands to one side of the compass with a wound cord in hand with a depth weight attached; to the other side of the compass is an ancient style Sailing Ship on the open sea. There are some minor incongruities on the surface of the pitcher as made, which do not affect the quality of the transfer images.

It also displays three flags flying proudly on this American Navy Warship. The flag in the back or stern has either 16 or 17 Stars. A small manufacturing void in the glaze has obscured one spot at the upper left, making it hard to determine if one or two Stars are obscured. A 16-Star Flag would represent June 1, 1796, the time of Tennessee Statehood. A 17-Star Flag would date from March 1, 1803 for the Statehood of Ohio. The second Top most forward flying flag has a count of 26-Stars. In 1837, 1 Star was added, representing the Statehood of Michigan, bringing the total number of Stars to 26. There were Thirteen stripes representing the Thirteen original Colonies on both. The third flag, called the Commissioning Pennant, is displayed as a banner type upon the highest central mast. One can count about 21-Stars upon it. Therefore this cataloger believes the forward most flying flag should be considered decorative. It is stamped on the bottom with a makers mark which is unable to be determined as it is tiny and under the glaze. This is a great example of an Historic Naval Related Liverpool Pitcher. It would look great on display, specially with its exceedingly rare Orange color, the first we have seen of this design combination and may be unique in this Orange color.