“Indian Basket Weave” After-Coffee Plate

1878-1879

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Theodore Russell Davis and Haviland & Co.

“Indian Basket Weave” After-Coffee Plate

Designer: Theodore Russell Davis
Manufacturer: Haviland & Co.

“Indian Basket Weave” After-Coffee Plate

1878-1879

Physical Qualities Porcelain, enamel, gilt, 9 in. (22.9 cm)

Credit Line Gift of Frederica Kolker Saxon, Baltimore, in Memory of Irving and Rosa Kolker

Object Number 1999.141

As a correspondent for Harper’s Weekly, Davis followed Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer’s (1839–1876) military campaigns in 1867 to imprison or assassinate Native communities in the Great Plains of the United States. This plate’s woven design is based on a basket sketched by Davis on the campaign, and, like his portrayals of battles, is a representation of Native history and culture seen through a white perspective.

The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1999; Jonathan W. Kolker, Baltimore, MD by descent, 1980s; Irving Mason (1895-1957) and Rosa Jacobson Kolker (1907-1998), Baltimore, MD by purchase

Former Prov - check files
Estate of Evalyn Walsh McClean

Benskin, Elizabeth, and Suzy Wolffe. Teacher's Guide to the American Collection. Baltimore, MD: Baltimore Museum of Art, 2014, pages 55 and 63.

Inscribed: None

Markings: UNDERNEATH, (painted), 'FABRIQUE PAR/HAVILAND & Co./d'apres les dessins/DE(red paint)/Theo. R. Davis(black paint)/ H&Co(underlined, all in green paint)/DESIGN PATENTED/AUGUST 10th 1880/No 1193(blue paint)'