Images(5)

Sugar Bowl

Dateca. 1826

Maker George Kline (1800-1858)

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Harrisonburg

MediumLead-glazed earthenware

DimensionsOH: 4 in.; Diameter: 3 7/8 in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund

Object number2018.900.1

DescriptionLead-glazed earthenware bulbous form sugar bowl with trimmed foot and flared, crimped rim, incised on the side with script. Incised "George Kline / His Sugar Bowl" on the front and with a poem on the reverse "Many Men of Many / Minds Many birds of / Many kinds". This bowl's inscription is an excerpt from a popular poem used in 19th century penmanship classes, which concludes with the two lines "Many fishes in the sea, Many men that don't agree".
Label TextAmong the earliest intact examples of Virginia lead-glazed earthenware known, this sugar bowl bears the name of a pottery's owner. The piece may also among the earliest pieces of Rockingham County pottery to have surfaced with a pottery owner's signature, as well as the earliest inscribed ceramic sugar bowl produced in the state of Virginia.
InscribedIncised "George Kline / His Sugar Bowl" on the front and with a poem on the reverse "Many Men of Many / Minds Many birds of / Many kinds".