Plate, Dinner
Dinner plate inscribed "Shakers Mt. Lebanon NY"
12/1886
Description
White porcelain dinner plate. Around the rim are two thin black lines with a light-green stripe 6/16" wide in between them. Underneath the border there is light-green text in all caps, which reads "SHAKERS MT. LEBANON N.Y.", curved to match the curve of the plate. The font of the text has a white outline to give the lettering a three-dimensional quality. There are three hand-painted floral designs, which consist of brown branches and green stems with green leaves. The floral design below "SHAKERS" has four pink flowers, three of which have yellow floral discs. The floral decoration with orange flowers is the smallest at 1 7/8" long. It has three flowers, two of which have five petals. The third floral design has three blue flowers, two of which have yellow floral discs. The green stem of the blue floral decoration are curled.
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.