Plaque, by John Bennett, 1879
Gallery mode Full size at the museum

Window mode follows your eyes with your camera, in this browser only: no picture or position leaves your device.

Plaque

John Bennett (American, born England, 1840–1907)

1879

Medium
Earthenware, glaze, slip, and enamel
Classification
Ceramics
Dimensions
H.: 46.7 cm (18 3/8 in.)
Culture
New York City
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of the Americas
Credit line
Through prior acquisitions of the George F. Harding Collection, an anonymous donor, Bessie Bennett, Mrs. William Blood, Emily Crane Chadbourne, Milton Straus, Elizabeth R. Vaughan, Behrend/Sanford Auction and Thorne Rooms Exhibition funds
Rights
Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed

View at the Art Institute of Chicago

About this work

English ceramist John Bennett created the distinct style of this floral plaque by painting the design in tinted slip, or liquid clay and then finishing it with a clear glaze. Bennett first developed this technique while working at the London pottery firm Doulton and Company, but after exhibiting “Bennett ware” to great acclaim at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, the artist to relocated to New York. This plaque, produced shortly after he arrived in the United States, reveals his ongoing indebtedness to British Aesthetic Movement design, which looked to nature and often involved dense, all-over floral and foliage motifs.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0