Unique Newcomb College Art Pottery Bowl, Sadie Irvine

Details

Description

A particularly beautiful and unusually decorative Newcomb College Art Pottery bowl, created in New Orleans in 1922 and decorated by … Read more A particularly beautiful and unusually decorative Newcomb College Art Pottery bowl, created in New Orleans in 1922 and decorated by Sarah Agnes Estelle "Sadie" Irvine, one of the most important and accomplished artists associated with Newcomb Pottery. Measuring 8 3/4 inches in diameter and 3 inches high, the bowl combines a broad, low form with a gently molded, subtly irregular rim and floral decoration that continues both around the exterior and, most appealingly, into the interior of the vessel. This was in the collection of Barbara McIlhenny Parsons of the McIlhenny family that developed and runs the historic Tabasco empire on Avery Island in Louisiana. So it has a fine provenance.

This 1922 bowl belongs to a particularly interesting point in Sarah Irvine's career. By then she was a mature artist who had been associated with Newcomb for approximately two decades. The pottery itself had evolved considerably from the brilliant high-glaze wares of the turn of the century. By the 1920s, Newcomb artists were exploring more subdued surfaces, modeled and carved decoration, and increasingly sophisticated relationships between form, color and ornament. Irvine was central to that evolution.

A highly appealing example of mature Newcomb design, combining an unusually engaging form, interior and exterior decoration, a beautifully subdued Arts and Crafts palette, and the hand of Sadie Irvine, one of the most significant artists in the history of Newcomb College Pottery.

New Orleans, Louisiana, 1922.
Decorator: Sarah Agnes Estelle "Sadie" Irvine.
Registration number: MV52.
Dimensions: 3 in. high × 8 3/4 in. diameter.
Provenance: Collection of Barbara McIlhenny Parsons, South Bristol, Maine. See less