Vase: full view |
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Object Description
| Brief description | Vase made for Grotto Gardens, Rudolph, Wisconsin by Wisconsin Ceramic Corp. (Pittsville Pottery), Pittsville, Wood County, probably 1938-1943. |
| Object name | Vase |
| Maker | Wisconsin Ceramic Corporation, 1931-1943 |
| Date | 1938-1943 |
| Dimensions | 6"H x 7 3/4"W x 6 1/2"D |
| Materials and techniques | Glazed wheel-thrown earthenware |
| Marks | Stamped or stenciled "Grotto Gardens, Rudolph, Wis." |
| Original location | Pittsville, Wood County, Wisconsin |
| Current location | Pittsville, Wood County, Wisconsin |
| Description | Wheel-thrown vase with two curved pulled handles. Blue-green glaze over off-white earthenware clay. |
| History | In 1931, Catholic priest John Willitzer (1874-1946) established a pottery factory in Pittsville, Wisconsin in order to provide work for local residents during the Depression. The Wisconsin Ceramic Corporation, which produced tiles and flowerpots from local red earthenware clay, struggled to stay in business and shut its doors in 1936. In 1938, the pottery reopened under the direction of James Wilkins, a potter from Bristol, England who served as foreman of the art pottery department at Indiana's Muncie Clay Products from 1923-1938 and his son William Wilkins, a ceramic technician. Production during this period centered on art pottery and promotional novelties for local businesses and included many of the glazes and shapes James Wilkins first developed for the Muncie pottery. This vase was presumably created as souvenir merchandise for the Rudolph Grotto Gardens and Wonder Cave, a grotto built by Philip Wagner in the 1920s. The vase is one of more than 170 examples donated to the Pittsville Area Historical Society by Ed Arnold (1930-2008), a Pittsville native and avid collector of Pittsville Pottery. |
| Sources | "Wisconsin Ceramic Corp. New Pittsville Industry" Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, December 24, 1931; "Pittsville Pottery Works, Idle for Two Years, to Renew Operations" Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, December 14, 1938; Milwaukee Journal, September 17, 1939; Jon Rans & Mark Eckelman, Collector’s Encyclopedia of Muncie Pottery (Paducah, KY: Collector Books, 1999), pp. 183-186; Nila Szweda, "Pittsville Pottery" Marshfield News-Herald, March 31, 2001, via Wisconsin Pottery Association (accessed April 18, 2011): http://www.wisconsinpottery.org/Pittsville/news-herald3-31-01.htm |
| Owner | Pittsville Area Historical Society |
| Object # | 12 |
| Rights | (c) 2011 by the Pittsville Area Historical Society. Contact the owner for more information. http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/localhistory/directory/viewsociety.asp?id=345 |
| Digital collection | Wisconsin Decorative Arts Database |
| Digital identifier | PAHS019 |
| Digital format | image/jpeg |
| Type | Physical object |
| Keywords | Ceramics; Pottery; Earthenware; Vase; Vessel (container); Container (receptacle); Furnishings and equipment; Household Accessory |
| Date digitized | 2011-05-27 |
| Date modified | 2011-05-27 |
Description
| Object name | Vase: full view |
| Rights | (c) 2011 by the Pittsville Area Historical Society. Contact the owner for more information. http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/localhistory/directory/viewsociety.asp?id=345 |
| Digital collection | Wisconsin Decorative Arts Database |
| Digital identifier | PAHS019a |
| Digital format | image/jpeg |
| Type | Physical object |
| Date digitized | 2011-04-13 |
| Date modified | 2011-04-13 |
