Pitcher, Cream

Object Name:

Pitcher, Cream

Object ID:

2025.018

Creator:

Benjamin F. Hunt & Sons -- Manufacturer

Place of Origin:

Elbogen, Bohemia

Date:

1896-1904

Description:

Pitcher, Cream. Souvenir transferware cream pitcher with an image of the New Hampshire State House, made by Benjamin F. Hunt & Sons in Austria for F. E. Nelson, Concord, NH. 1896-1904. The pitcher has a white porcelain body with a pink neck and gilded rim and handle. An inscription below the transfer print reads, "STATE HOUSE CONCORD, N.H." The underside of the pitcher is marked "B.F.H.S. / CHINA / MADE IN AUSTRIA / For F.E. NELSON / CONCORD N.H."

Material:

Ceramic

Dimensions:

H-5 W-3.25 D-4 inches

Provenance:

"B.F.H.S." is for Benjamin F. Hunt & Sons. Benjamin Franklin Hunt Jr. (1844-1931) was a Boston-based retailer and importer; in 1897 he joined a porcelain company owned by Karl Speck in Elbogen, Austria-Hungary. The arrangement lasted only until 1901 when Hunt left the partnership and ran a studio in Elbogen with his wife for a few years before building their own factory between 1904 and 1908. But this factory only produced six batches of whiteware before Hunt sold the factory and returned to Boston. So this porcelain pitcher was made between 1897 and 1908. "F. E. Nelson" was Fred Ervin Nelson (1862-1941), owner of the F.E. Nelson Company which operated 5 and 10 cent-stores in Concord, Nashua, and Manchester between about 1891 and 1920.

Credit Line:

Gift of Richard F. Barter, Jr.

People:

Hunt, Benjamin F. (1844-1931), Nelson, Fred E. (1862-1941)

Subjects:

State House (NH), Austria, Austro Hungarian Empire