Landing of General Lafayette at Castle Garden platter

Artist/Maker James and Ralph Clews (active 1813-1834)

Landing of General Lafayette at Castle Garden platter

ca. 1824-1834

Place madeEngland, Europe

Transfer-printed earthenware

Overall: 1 1/4 × 15 1/4 × 11 3/4 in. (3.2 × 38.7 × 29.8 cm)

Gift of Samuel V. Hoffman

1927.56

Lafayette's much-celebrated return to America in 1824 was an enormously popular subject for Staffordshire pottery. New York's finest steamboats, the "Chancellor Livingston" and the "Robert Fulton," can be seen at the left; hundreds of people on the building's roof witness a cannon and artillery salute.

DescriptionMolded pearlware octagonal platter with dark blue transfer print of the landing of Lafayette at Castle Garden; flower and vine border; central image of Castle Garden at right, three ships, and Battery in foreground with six shooting cannons, men on horseback, and figures in military dress; printed below image, "LANDING OF GEN. LA FAYETTE/At Castle Garden New-York 16th August 1824."

MarkingsImpressed on underside of platter: "CLEWS WARRANTED STAFFORDSHIRE" around crown; transfer-printed on front of platter below image: "LANDING OF GEN. LA FAYETTE / At Castle Garden New-York 16th August 1824."

ClassificationsCERAMICS