EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Pot Visits the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Pot Visits the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City

I wrote yesterday that I vacationed last week with my nephew Jason in upstate New York and New York City, and the articles that I posted yesterday recapped some of the objects that we saw in Cooperstown, New York. However, we also had an appointment at Nye and Company Auctioneers in Bloomfield, New Jersey, where we picked up a wonderful late-eighteenth or early-nineteenth century slip-decorated red earthenware handled pot that originated either in the South or Pennsylvania. It has also been speculated that this pot may be Moravian in origin, as well.

This pot recently sold in a group lot that was made up of mostly nineteenth century French red earthenware. The lot sold a few weeks back as part of the collection of Robert Weeks and Emily Johnston De Forest, which had descended in the De Forest family until it was consigned this year to Nye and Company.

Nye and Company, Bloomfield, NJ

My Nephew Jason Outside Nye and Company in Bloomfield, NJ

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According to an article written by James A. Hijiya and published by the American Philosophical Society on December 17, 1980, entitled, 'Four Ways of Looking at a Philanthropist: A Study of Robert Weeks De Forest,' "Before Robert Weeks De Forest's (1848-1931) death in 1931, he was hailed in the newspapers as "the First Citizen of New York" (or, as New Yorkers were wont to say, "the First Citizen of the First City").

Besides serving forty years as president of the Charity Organization Society of New York (now incorporated into the Community Service Society) and seventeen years as president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he held high office in the American National Red Cross, the National Housing Association, the American Federation of Arts, and many other philanthropic organizations.

He played an important role in establishing the New York School of Social Work (now a part of Columbia University), the Provident Loan Society of New York, and the Russell Sage Foundation. Although uncomfortable in public office, he was appointed Tenement House Commissioner of both the city and the state.

When De Forest died, he received eulogies from the likes of Herbert Lehman and Elihu Root, John W. Davis and Jimmy Walker, Stephen Wise and Harry Emerson Fosdick. Now half a century later, historians recognize De Forest as something of a bigwig."

Some will also debate today in opinion the aspect that they feel was the most significant contribution accomplished in the lifetime of Robert Weeks De Forest for the City of New York; although, he was a highly successful lawyer and businessman, where he amassed positions of power and leadership in multiple industries. But his contributions to the Metropolitan Museum of Art are symbolic for how the museum appears today. In fact, there are more than 600 objects currently owned by the MET that De Forest either gifted to the museum or was involved with the acquisition in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century.

According to the book, 'The Politics of Urban Beauty: New York and Its Art Commission,' "De Forest's involvement with the arts of early America long matched his engagement with housing reform and charity work. His marriage in 1872 to Emily Johnston (1851-1942), daughter of Metropolitan Museum of Art cofounder John Taylor Johnston (1820-1893), cemented his ties to the new institution founded in 1870. He became a trustee in 1889, vice president in 1909, and the museum's fifth present in 1913. The Forests amassed a major collection of American decorative arts, which they donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1922, in order to establish the American Wing. It was also in his capacity as a trustee, then president of the museum that De Forest came to the Art Commission of the City of New York (founded in 1898)."

But not every single object that had been amassed by the De Forests landed in the collection of the MET; some of their property had descended in their family until this year. Much of this material was also consigned to Nye and Company Auctioneers in New Jersey, which is located about 20 miles east of the Metropolitan Museum of the Art. In fact, those objects that had descended in the family of the De Forests were sold earlier this summer in a two day auction.

The contents of the collection were acquired before 1931, and not limited to Americana, either - instead, the objects were from all around the world and represented a wide variety of categories, such as art, ceramics, glass, furniture, rugs, lamps, mirrors, ephemera, sculptures, pewter, chalkware, photography, jewelry, needlework, folk art, and so much more. Prices also appeared competitive for much of the two day sale.

Nonetheless, my nephew and I thought the best place to photograph this pot would be on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, especially since this pot in many ways is directly connected to this museum. It's not only connected to the De Forests impact at the MET, but it also has ties to the hundreds of objects currently on display that the De Forests helped the museum secure.

We also noticed at least four different red earthenware objects currently on display inside the MET that were gifted to the museum by the De Forests, which were manufactured with a similar form.

The Pot Visits the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City