Plate

Object Name:

Plate

Object ID:

2021.013

Creator:

Thaxter, Celia Laighton (1835-1894) -- Artist; Heinrich & Company -- Manufacturer

Place of Origin:

Selb, Bavaria, Germany

Date:

1882

Description:

Plate, decorated by Celia Thaxter (1835-1894) of Kittery Point, ME, and Appledore Island, Isles of Shoals. Molded white porcelain. Hand-painted floral decoration on front and reverse. Four lines from the poem "Climb Thou and Cling" hand painted on front: "Heaven send thee winged joys to fill thy day, / Winnowing with dawn the doubtful dark away, / Show thee the morning star that burns on high, / And touch thy life with rosy tints of day. / Celia Thaxter." Signed and dated "CT: 1882." and stamped "H&Co." on reverse. Manufactured by Heinrich & Company, Selb, Bavaria, Germany.

Material:

Ceramic
Porcelain

Dimensions:

Dia-8.4 inches

Provenance:

Poet and artist Celia Laighton Thaxter, the daughter of Thomas B. Laighton and Eliza Rymes, was born in Portsmouth, NH, in 1835. While a child the family moved to White Island, Isles of Shoals, where her father was the lighthouse keeper. Living in relative isolation, Celia was educated by her parents with assistance from visitors such as John Weiss and Levi Lincoln Thaxter. In 1848 the family moved to Appledore Island where Thomas B. Laighton had opened a summer hotel. The hotel attracted many visitors including writers such as James Russell Lowell, Henry David Thoreau, and John Greenleaf Whittier, as well as artists William Morris Hunt and Childe Hassam, who became close friends of the Laightons and inspired Celia. In 1851, Celia married Thaxter, eventually moving to Newtonville, MA, where they raised a family. Missing the islands, the sea, and nature, Celia Thaxter began a long career writing and publishing poetry, sketches, and children's stories about her beloved islands. The death of her father in 1877 brought Thaxter back to Appledore Island, where she spent summers at a cottage near the family's hotel and wintered in Kittery Point, Maine. Thaxter's beautiful gardens and home on Appledore Island inspired her poetry and painting, becoming a center for visiting writers and artists each summer. She died suddenly at Appledore on July 26, 1894.

This plate is an early example of Thaxter combining her writing, a poem, and paintings of examples of flowers that filled her gardens at Appledore, on a decorative plate. Part of the poem "Climb Thou and Cling", a verse by Celia Thaxter, originally published on the broadside, "Prang's American Fourth Prize Christmas Card," Boston, 1881, is written on the front of the plate.

The plate was sold at Morphy's Fine Arts, Asian & Antiques Auction, August 2014, Lot 2653.

Credit Line:

New Hampshire Historical Society Purchase

People:

Thaxter, Celia (1835-1894)

Subjects:

Flowers, Violets, Poems