The Potters' View of Canada: Canadian Scenes on Nineteenth-Century Earthenware

The potters' views of Canada have a many-sided appeal, linking the world of artists, printmakers, and photographers to the ceramics industry. As part of material history, they reflect not only taste in the wares themselves - their bodies, colours, shapes - but also the changing ways of looking at things, from the romantic to the literal. Covering the period for the beginning of the nineteenth century to the end of Queen Victoria's reign, this volume focuses chiefly on wares made for the dinner table or the washstand. All are earthenware, decorated by transfer printing, and produced by British potters. The scenes they depict range from the awesome falls at Niagara to early steamboats on the St Lawrence, from igloos in the Arctic to a governor's residence in New Brunswick. Elizabeth Collard traces the evolution of these wares, placing them in their historical setting and identifying the sources from which many of the views were derived. She also provides much detail on the English and Scottish potters and on the artists whose work they adapted to their own use. One of the most important collections of these wares belong to the National Museum of Man, Ottawa, and it is from the national collection that illustrations for this book have been drawn. The more than 170 photographs also include such material as the published prints on which the potters' views were based, border designs, and potters' marks. This book will be an invaluable reference work not only for collectors and dealers but also for museum curators and material culture historians.