1980s Decorative Luster Maritime Pottery Plaque Titles Flying Cloud Boston

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A Pink Lustre Maritime Plaque, “Flying Cloud Boston”
Sunderland type, twentieth century

Of rectangular form, transfer-printed in black with a … Read more A Pink Lustre Maritime Plaque, “Flying Cloud Boston”
Sunderland type, twentieth century

Of rectangular form, transfer-printed in black with a three-masted clipper ship under a full press of sail, a pennant flying at the main and gulls wheeling overhead, the vessel named “Flying Cloud Boston” in flowing script along the lower edge. The scene is reserved upon a pink lustre ground softly sponged with white cloud-reserves and framed by a boldly scalloped dark manganese lustre border, the upper edge pierced with two holes for hanging.

The plaque measures 8½ inches (21.6 cm) high, 9½ inches (24.1 cm) wide and 1 inch (2.5 cm) deep.

Historical Context
Pink lustre wares of this kind continue one of the most enduring decorative traditions of the North-East of England, where the potteries of Sunderland and Tyneside perfected the marriage of a black transfer print with a shimmering pink lustre ground throughout the nineteenth century. Sailing ships in full canvas were among the most popular subjects of the genre, and their bold, graphic charm has kept such pieces in steady demand among collectors of nautical and folk material ever since.

This plaque is a twentieth-century piece made in that well-loved Sunderland manner. It is inscribed “Flying Cloud Boston,” after one of the most celebrated of all American clipper ships: the extreme clipper Flying Cloud, built in 1851 by the great naval architect Donald McKay at East Boston, Massachusetts. Renowned for her speed, she set a famous record for the passage from New York to San Francisco around Cape Horn — a feat made the more remarkable by the navigational skill of Eleanor Creesy, who plotted the ship’s course alongside her husband, Captain Josiah Perkins Creesy. The clipper’s name became a byword for the daring and romance of the great age of sail.

Decorative rather than antique, the plaque offers the striking black-and-white image and warm lustre glow that have made Sunderland-style maritime wares so collectable, together with the enduring story of one of the fastest and most famous ships ever to fly the American flag. It makes a handsome and characterful wall piece for any nautical or English pottery interior.

(Ref: NY10857-iam) See less