Newcomb Pottery College Bowl
Posted By whatsitworth on March 1, 2010
I was given this bowl a few years ago as a gift. It is a Newcomb Pottery College Bowl signed by the artist. I believe it is from the 1920’s – 1930’s. It is 7” in diameter and 3.75” high. Can you tell me about the bowl including its value?
“A community is fortunate which has the wisdom to foster the talent of its children and provides effective ways for its employment.” Ellsworth Woodward
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries reformers sought to make available more economic security for its women by actively developing fields where an educated woman could make a respectful living for herself and her family. The American south was particularly interested in this because the south witnessed first hand the devastation and poverty women were subjected to after the loss of their bread winning husbands. This economic necessity combined with the heightened interest in the Arts and Crafts movement’s reverence for work led to a rise in opportunities for women. One area that seemed a natural for women was the craft of decorating of porcelain and pottery.
In 1894, Sophie Newcomb Memorial College (Tulane University in New Orleans, LA) hired Rhode Island School of Design trained Ellsworth Woodward to establish a program of vocational training for young women. This program combined a fine arts curriculum with a with the goal of providing employment for graduates when there were few work opportunities for women.
The studio produced over 70,000 pieces of pottery – all designed and decorated by women but thrown by men – between 1895 and 1940 when the studio closed. The studio and artists had a very good and only recently deciphered system of marking their wares as to identify not only the studio and the artist, but the year the piece was made.
The N inside the C is a mark used by the studio throughout its history; the QI 14 dates the piece to 1927 and the 65 refers to the shape. I can’t make out the cipher mark for the artist but the blue glaze and the japonica blossoms are both typical for that decade.
Newcomb pottery’s clean lines, soothing colors and history of women’s suffrage make Newcomb pottery extremely desirable and sought after. If your lovely bowl were to come up at auction I’d give it a pre-sale estimate of $900-1200.
Interestingly, we here in the bay area have a somewhat parallel studio pottery. After the 1906 earthquake and fires, San Francisco saw an epidemic of tuberculosis, especially among women. Dr. Philip King Brown opened the Arequipa Sanitarium in Marin to offer the only known cure for tuberculosis at the time: rest, fresh air and good food. Doctors also saw a therapeutic value in hand crafts and so, with the help of local philanthropist Phoebe Apperson Hearst, they developed a pottery decorating studio. The Arequipa Sanitarium closed in 1918 so pieces from this studio are highly prized.
Please enjoy your bowl and its place in the timeline of women’s independence!
Jane Alexiadis
Michaan’s Auctions
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