“Rice or Reed Bird” Game Plate - Image 1

“Rice or Reed Bird” Game Plate - Image 2

Theodore Russell Davis and Haviland & Co.

“Rice or Reed Bird” Game Plate

1878-1879

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Theodore Russell Davis and Haviland & Co.

Designer: Theodore Russell Davis
Manufacturer: Haviland & Co.

“Rice or Reed Bird” Game Plate

1878-1879

Physical Qualities Porcelain, enamel, gilt, 9 1/8 × 9 1/8 × 1 in. (23.2 × 23.2 × 2.5 cm.)

Credit Line Gift of Jonathan W. Kolker, Baltimore, in Memory of Irving and Rosa Kolker

Object Number 2022.163

"Rice or Reed Bird" game plate is a design from the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Porcelain Service. Porcelain with enamels and gilt decoration. The colors were applied using chromolithographic and decalcomania processes. Afterwards, decorators painted the plate with enamel colors to add shading and to enhance the design. Finally, the edges were gilt. The plate is a classic round shape. The design features a Rice or Reed bird in full early summer color, and his mate, amidst the pink-white blossoms of a New England apple orchard.

The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 2022; Jonathan W. Kolker, Baltimore, MD by descent, 1980s; Irving Mason (1895-1957) and Rosa Jacobson Kolker (1907-1998), Baltimore, MD by purchase

Inscribed: Recto: artist's initials "TD [overlapped]" in enamel

Markings: On underside: - [American eagle with spread wings and Seal of United States in polychrome enamels]; - "Theo: R. Davis." (Facsimile signature in black); - "FABRIQUÉ PAR / HAVILAND & Co./ d’aprés les dessins / DE" (stamped in orange-red); - "DESIGN PATENTED / AUGUST 10th 1880 / No: 1193 (stamped in blue); - "H & Co." (stamped factory mark in green)