This is the only known pickle dish to have survived. It held the pickled fruits and vegetables served during the dessert course; 1¼ by 4½ inches. Philadelphia Museum of Art, given by Mrs Benjamin Rush, 1950.
:Ceramics experts had long suspected that soft-paste porcelains were produced in Philadelphia prior to the Revolutionary War. Early histories of the city mention the "American China Manufactory," owned and operated by Gousse Bonnin and George Anthony Morris from 1770 to 1772; but with scattered documentation and few surviving examples, the manufacturers were but a footnote in the annals of American ceramics until 1972.
It was then that Graham Hood of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation published a slim but definitive volume of research he had conducted on the 12 known examples of wares produced by Bonnin and Morris. His conclusions proved once and for all that the American-made table wares had been delicate and desirous enough to rival the soft-paste porcelains produced by the English — which had all but monopolized the American market.
In the years since, several high profile ceramics exhibits have included Bonnin and Morris items. Six more pieces have surfaced, bringing the known total to 19. Yet there have been few opportunities to view the items and even less to acquire one of the rare pieces of blue and white with the underglaze blue "P."
While nothing can be done to change the latter, the former is getting its day. The Philadelphia Museum of Art, under the curatorial direction of Alexandra Alevizatos Kirtley, has brought together for the first time under one roof all of the remaining known examples of Bonnin and Morris porcelains. "Colonial Philadelphia Porcelain: The Art of Bonnin and Morris," on view through June 1, also displays large-scale shards unearthed in excavations of the factory site, now hidden under the shadow of Interstate 95, as well as original orders and receipts, financial documents, ads and letters.
Detail of the interlocking circles and the applied five-petal flowers that are unique to Bonnin and Morris.
To support this landmark event, the Chipstone Society has devoted its annual publication,
Ceramics in America,
to the subject of Bonnin and Morris. The 314-page volume, which includes the "Catalogue Raisonné of Bonnin and Morris Porcelain," brings to light new evidence about the factory and the pivotal role it played in reducing this country's reliance on imported goods. Essays include a discussion of the parallels in porcelain production and alchemy, as well as an experiment in constructing a pickle dish as would have occurred at the American China Manufactory.
In 1770, Philadelphia was the second wealthiest city in the British Empire. Its inhabitants' taste for luxury can be seen in the silver work of Joseph Richardson and the cabinetry of Thomas Affleck. The desire for fine porcelain was equally as strong, conjuring, as it did, associations with cultural refinement and status.
