Cake Print

Date1824-1830

MediumMahogany

DimensionsOverall: 5 x 10 1/8 x 3/4in. (12.7 x 25.7 x 1.9cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1959.708.2

DescriptionAn ornamentally carved wooden mold used to make pastries resembling cookies. On one side is a relief carving of a full-length figure of a man in partial profile, enclosed within a vertical lozenge with wording, sprigs, and dots. On the other side is a relief carving of a smaller full-length figure of an Indian holding a bow and arrow.

Artist unidentified.
Label TextIn the nineteenth century, professional bakers used carved wooden prints to impress designs into dough prior to baking. Known as "cakes," these pastries possessed the texture and thickness of today's cookies, so they readily retained the designs (as present-day cake batters would not). Small, simple prints were occasionally used in homes, but larger, more elaborate, or specialized examples (like this one) were used by professional bakers.
On one side of this print, a figure of John Quincy Adams is bracketed by the words, "HOME INDUSTRY/PEECE [sic] & LIBERTY." These slogans were used in Adams's campaign for the presidency, so likely this side of the print was carved in 1824 or 1825, i.e., just before or at the beginning of Adams's 1825-1829 term of office.
The other side of the print shows a figure of a native American and is thought to have ben carved somewhat later (and by a less accomplished hand). Nevertheless, both images are stylistically attributable to the workshop that carved prints for the commercial baker William Farrow (active 1815-1835) of New York City. There, early Dutch settlers are credited with having established the long-standing tradition of celebrating New Year's Day with fancy imprinted cakes.

Inscribed"HOME INDUSTRY/J Q ADAMS/PEECE [sic] & LIBERTY" is carved on the obverse.
ProvenanceOwnership prior to Jennings (CWF's source) is unknown.