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Theodore Russell Davis, designer

Ice Cream Dish, 1879

Description

Maker

  • Theodore Russell Davis, 1840-1894, American, designer
  • Haviland & Company, French, manufacturer

Title

Ice Cream Dish

Year

1879

Medium

Porcelain with enamels and gilding

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • porcelain,
  • hand-painting,
  • hand-painted

Dimensions

3.2 x 16.8 cm (1 3/16 x 6 5/8 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Marked on the reverse: the United States coat of arms (Great Seal with eagle) in color, the words “FABRIQUÉ PAR/HAVILNAD & CO./d’après les dessins/DE/” in red with the artist’s signature “THEO: R. DAVIS” below in black, “H & Co.” double underscored in green, a cipher made of the artist’s initials “T.D.” formed from a red, white and blue pennant suspended from a crossbar with the date “1879” in brown, and above the pennant is “LIMOGES/HAVILAND & Co.” in brown. NOTE: The ice cream dish (82.002) is from the White House service.

Type

  • Ceramics

Credit

Gift of Daphne Farago

Object Number

82.022

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Making It In America

October 11, 2013 - February 9, 2014

A chance meeting in the White House between First Lady Lucy Hayes and illustrator and journalist Theodore Davis produced a most extraordinary dinner service. Mrs. Hayes was selecting fern samples to be used as decoration on the presidential service, which had already been contracted with Haviland, and Davis suggested that she use depictions of flora and fauna native to North America, celebrating the country’s natural bounty. Davis became the designer of the service, producing 130 distinct decorations for 562 pieces made for nine courses. Each decoration was drawn by hand, etchings were made to transfer the outlines, basic colors were applied via chromolithographic and decalcomania processes, and enamel details and gilding were added by hand.

The designs ornamenting each piece of this service not only echo the era’s interest in nature and America’s spirit of nationalism—they also often indicate the type of food they were to serve. The turkey striding from a background radiating beams of light and the lobster riding in the surf leave little doubt as to what the diner would soon enjoy. As the ice cream melted, the gilded snow shoe would appear to be covered with snow. The ice cream dish is marked as part of the original service delivered to the White House, whereas the 1880 patent date of the other two pieces indicates that they were part of a limited number of pieces made by Haviland for public sale.

Pendleton Pantry

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Ice Cream Dish with the accession number of 82.022. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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