Art Institute of Chicago

Fruit Basket

American China Manufactory (American, active 1770-72)

Date

c. 1770–72

Medium

Soft-paste porcelain, underglaze blue decoration, and glaze

Culture

Philadelphia

Department

Arts of the Americas

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

This delicate fruit basket is a rare example of early American porcelain, one of around 20 known surviving works by Gousse Bonnin and George Anthony Morris’s American China Manufactory. Porcelain is a strong, luminous type of clay that originated in China, where its formula was a heavily guarded secret. It eventually emerged as a prized material in global luxury goods, causing fierce competition between various producers of porcelain wares. The American China Manufactory fruit basket represents the early advancements of this industry in the American colonies, which followed English precedents such as the Worcester Porcelain Factory basket also in this case.

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