Dish, Serving

Description

Large white oval porcelain dish. Around the interior rim are two black lines with a light green stripe 6/16" wide in between them. Underneath the border is light green transfer-printed text in all caps which reads "SHAKERS MT. LEBANON N.Y.". The font of the text has a thin white outline to the letters given them a three-dimensional quality. The dish is further decorated by three hand-painted floral designs consisting of flowers, a brown branch and a dual-green stem. Just to the left of "SHAKERS" on the side of the dish there is one floral design which has a flower with ten purple oval petals around a yellow floral disc with a brown center and another flower with two purple oval petals. Also along the side of the interior of the bowl is a floral design with nine blue oval petals around a yellow floral disc with a brown center and a second flower with three blue oval petals. The third floral design is on the bottom center of the dish. This design consists of an orange flower with four tripartite petals and two heart-shaped petals and two other orange flowers each with one tripartite and one oval petal. The exterior of the dish is plain white with no decoration.

Notes

On October 12, 1886 Benjamin Gates, Cornelia French, and Mary Hazard of the Church family traveled to New York City to order plates from Union Porcelain Works. On February 20, 1887 a note in Anna Dodgsons journal refers to new plates with "Shaker & c". These are the only dishes marked with a community name.