Dish, Serving

Description

Large white oval serving dish. Along the inside rim are two thin black lines with a light green 6/16" wide stripe in between them. On the long side, underneath the border there is transfer-printed text in light green in all caps reading "SHAKERS MT. LEBANON N.Y.". The font of the text has white space giving the letters a three-dimensionality. The interior of the dish has three hand-painted floral designs. All three have a brown branch and dual-green stems. One floral decoration is on the side of the dish. This floral arrangement consists of one purple flower with 11 petals extending from a yellow center and another purple flower with four petals. On the bottom, just off-center, is a floral arrangement with orange flowers. It has one large flower with one oval, one heart-shaped, and four tripartite petals around a yellow center; a smaller orange flower with one tripartite petal and three oval petals; and a smaller flower with a heart-shaped petal. On the other side of this floral arrangement is another which has a blue nine-petal flower around a yellow center and a smaller flower with two oval petals.

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.