This monumental urn signals the contemporary influence of French Empire tastes established at the Sèvres factory during the Napoleonic era. It also reflects an American firm’s technical aspirations to compete with European porcelain manufactories. The success of the firm was recognized in 1833 when Joseph Hemphill’s wares were awarded and acclaimed as “in every respect equal to French china.”
In addition to its European influence, the urn’s boldly rendered, gilt-rimmed pictures hint at the emerging taste for Gothic narratives of captivity and shipwreck. The images are based on prints (The Rescue and The Storm) after Alvan Fisher, an early New England landscapist whose work is represented in an adjoining gallery.
Shipwreck! Winslow Homer and the Life Line, Philadelphia Museum of Art, September 16 - December 16, 2012
Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 2001-02
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