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Decorator
Flora Winegar Brigham
(American, 1861 – 1948)
Manufacturer
Haviland & Co.
(Limoges, France, active 1840s-present)
Date1885
MediumHard paste porcelain with enamel decoration
DimensionsDiameter (1997.10.1.1): 8 7/16 in. (21.4 cm)
Diameter (1997.10.1.2): 8 7/16 in. (21.4 cm)
Diameter (1997.10.1.3): 8 3/8 in. (21.3 cm)
Diameter (1997.10.1.4): 8 1/2 in. (21.6 cm)
Diameter (1997.10.1.5): 8 1/2 in. (21.6 cm)
Diameter (1997.10.1.6): 8 1/2 in. (21.6 cm)
Credit LineBequest of Katherine Brigham Callanen
Object number1997.10.1.1-6
On view
DescriptionThis set of six dessert plates was decorated by Flora Winegar Brigham of Amsterdam and Cazenovia, New York. Most nineteenth-century women did not have the opportunity to formally study art in professional studio settings due to societal expectations, lack of access, and prohibitive costs. Consequently, women were encouraged to focus on domestic arts as a form of expression. Amateur china painting became a popular pastime for accomplished young ladies, with periodicals such as The
Art Amateur providing design inspiration with monthly prompts and step-by-step instructions for execution. These particular plates were manufactured and exported by Theodore Haviland of Limoges, France as glazed white “blanks” solely for individual decoration. Floral sprigs, insects, and scenic cartouches allude to Japonesque motifs appropriated by Western cultures as part of the Aesthetic Movement. Brigham studied locally at the Hamilton Female Seminary, and married Professor Albert Perry Brigham, a world-renowned geographer and geologist. She decorated these plates in 1885, three
years into her marriage. Brigham’s signature on the underside of these plates suggests her pride in, and ownership of, her work, as well as granting her artistic visibility to guests invited to dine in her home.
Collections
Additional Details
Markings
Undersides (green underglaze stamp): "H&C / L"
Signature
Undersides (overglaze gray paint): "F.W. Brigham / 1885"
Eadweard Muybridge
Date: c. 1884-87 (published 1887)
Medium: Collotype on paper, mounted on board
Object number: 2011.8.4
Louise-Magdeleine Horthemels
Date: 1709
Medium: Engraving
Object number: 1994.68
Louise-Magdeleine Horthemels
Date: 1709
Medium: Engraving
Object number: 1994.71
Flora Winegar Brigham
Date: c. 1890
Medium: Oil on canvas
Object number: 1997.10.6
Sèvres Manufactory
Date: 1846
Medium: Hard-paste porcelain, gilt bronze
Object number: 1992.43a-b
Henry Moore
Date: 1969 (published 1970)
Medium: Etching
Object number: 1988.21
Utagawa Kuniyoshi
Date: 1845-46
Medium: Woodblock print
Object number: 2018.8.2
Julia Margaret Cameron
Date: 1867 (published 1893)
Medium: Photogravure, mounted on matboard
Object number: 1990.6