Vase

Creator

Pauline Pottery, 1883-1909

Date

• 1888-1894

Summary

• Vase, Pauline Pottery, Edgerton, probably ca. 1888-1894. Molded earthenware vase with round body and long, narrow neck. Incised with a leafy curving pattern highlighted with gilt. Stippling in open areas. Underglazed ground transitions from red-brown at base to dark green. Two large chips in rim.
• Stamped Pauline Pottery crown and "TRADEMARK"
• The Pauline Pottery was a commercial art pottery works established by Pauline Jacobus in Chicago in 1883. In 1888, Jacobus and her husband Oscar relocated the company to Edgerton, Wisconsin in order to gain access to the high-quality cream-colored earthenware clay beds found in the area. In Edgerton, Oscar managed the production of porous earthenware cups for electric batteries (the pottery's primary income generator) while Pauline worked with a staff of women decorators to create ornamental wares decorated with hand-painted underglaze. Faced with financial difficulties after the death of Oscar Jacobus, the pottery was forced to close in 1894. In 1902, Pauline Jacobus reopened the Pauline Pottery on a smaller scale, operating the company from her own home until her retirement in 1909.