Images(10)

Flower Pot

Date1825

Attributed to Enos Smedley (1805-1892)

OriginAmerica, Pennsylvania, Westtown

MediumLead-glazed earthenware

Dimensions7 5/8" x 9 3/16" (19.4 cm. x 23.3 cm.)

Credit LineGift of Beatrix T. Rumford

Object number1983.900.1

DescriptionEarthenware flower pot: slightly splayed bulbous body with ground top edge and ruffled rim. Bottom pierced at center for drainage. Rim is turned over in a decorative scalloped edge. "Elizabeth Canby Brandywine 11thMO 21st 1825" is incised in script below the rim. Additional incised calligraphic decoration beneath words "Elizabeth" and "Canby". Body decorated with streaks of green beneath the lead glaze.
Label TextIncised script running horizontally beneath the upper scalloped edge reads "Elizabeth Canby Brandywine 11th MO 21st 1825." In 1803, James Canby (1781-1858) married Elizabeth Roberts (1781-1868), the original client or recipient of this pot. "Brandywine" was the name of the Canby family home in Wilmington, Delaware. The date inscribed on the pot is believed to be the date the pot was made, as it does not coincide with any dates of identified family significance. Originally the pot probably had a separate saucer with a ruffled edge similar to that seen on the upper rim of this piece.
Inscribed"Elizabeth Canby Brandywine 11thMO 21st 1825" is incised in script below the rim.
ProvenanceElizabeth Roberts Canby (1781-1868), Wilmington, Del.; to her daughter Elizabeth M. Canby Rumford (1848-1933); to her son Lewis Rumford (1877-1961); to his nephew Lewis Rumford II (b. 1905), Baltimore, Md.; gift of his daughter, Beatrix T. Rumford, Williamsburg, Va.