The Changing Façade of USP - University of the Sciences in ...

usp bulletin: designing for 19th-century america page 11MARVIN SAMSON, vice chairman ofthe USP board of trustees, studies theStaffordshire platter that bears animage of Philadelphia’s Waterworks(shown at far left) at the Circa 1821exhibition opening in November 2006.ceramic matrix, and after inking and firing,hundreds of these large platters—and othertableware onto which this scene, or partsof it, was similarly reproduced—were soldacross Europe or exported to America.Consequently, well-to-do Philadelphianswere able to enjoy an earthenware“snapshot” of one of the most importantand attractive Greek revival buildings oftheir city.One of the rewarding (and frustrating)aspects of curating an exhibition is theacquisition of vital object information afterwall labels have been written and the showis opened to the public. Case in point: inlate October 2006, while sifting throughearly 20th-century auction catalogues for anentirely different project, I came across anillustration of four French pharmacy jarsfrom the same series to which one of theporcelain jars in the exhibition (shown atright) clearly belongs.“One of the rewarding (and frustrating) aspectsof curating an exhibition is the acquisition of vitalobject information after wall labels have beenwritten and the show is opened to the public.”Michael Brody, CuratorThe catalogue was for the 1935 sale ofthe eclectic New York art collection belongingto several members of the Wanamakerfamily, including John Wanamaker, Jr., sonof the founder of the famous eponymousPhiladelphia department store that closedabout a decade ago. One of the highlights ofthe sale was a “seventeenth-century paneledwalnut pharmacy room with remarkablecollection of pharmacy jars,” that had beencollected by Rodman Wanamaker. Indeed,the collection consisted of dozens ofporcelain and earthenware vessels from the17th through 19th centuries, made in Italy,France, Spain, Portugal, England, and theNetherlands. The preface to a subset ofthese jars, lots 446 to 455, states:The following lots form an importantset of Paris porcelain pharmacy jars ofthe Empire period by Deroche Frèresand others, and come from a pharmacyin Blois, to which they were presented in1810 by the princes of Spain heldprisoner in Valençay by Napoleon I.(American Art Association, AndersonGalleries, Inc., New York; sale dates13–16 March 1936, p. 70)The 10 lotsdescribe 45 separateobjects of two sizes:29 at 10” high(including lids), invarious conditionstates; and 15 at 61/2” high (includinglids missing theirfinials). The USP jar lacks a lid, though itssize (about 7 3/4” high), means it belongedto the first height group, and was almostcertainly one of the five jars described in lot452 as “lacking covers.”On stylistic basis, I dated the USP jarto circa 1820–1840. The provenanceinformation given inthe 1935 auctioncatalogue, which Ihave no reason tosuspect is spurious,suggests the entireseries of storage jarswas made in 1810,or slightly earlier.Interest in Egyptiandesign was generatedby the discoveriesand records ofNapoleon’s expeditionto Egypt in 1798, and as I proposed in myexhibition label, the wonderful sphinxes atthe base of the jar were almost certainlyderived from Percier and Fontaine’ssubsequent Recueil de DécorationsIntérieures, published in Paris in 1801 and1812. (This tome also happens to be the firstprinted guide or pattern book of Greek,Roman, and Egyptian designs based onarcheological sources.)Due to this minor but interesting auctioncatalogue “discovery,” the USP jar can nowbe attributed, at least provisionally, to theParis factory of Deroche Frères—likely partof a large commission by the princes ofSpain for the apothecary in the royalchateau at Blois. I hope readers will agreethis is notable and exciting new informationfor the museum’s collection records.For more information about theexhibition, including hours, visitwww.usip.edu/museum, then clickon the “exhibitions” link.