CHELSEA POTTERY U.S. Rare and early Crackleware plate incised in the Lotus pattern outlined in blue with rare green leaves, ca. 1891-95. Stamped CPUS/EEX. 10" dia.

"The blue and green decoration on this plate was so unusual that it was bought for Diana for Christmas. The crackle finish was inspired by the Oriental pottery seen by Hugh Robertson at the Centennial Exposition. His subsequent experiments bankrupted the firm, and it was reorganized by a group of patrons, many being members of Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, in 1891. The group of Boston investors who formed CPUS encouraged Robertson to produce a commercially successful ware, while continuing to make artware. Working with his son William, Hugh perfected the crackle finish and applied it to tableware. In 1892, the pottery offered prizes to students at the Museum of Fine Arts School in Boston for "the best design for a dinner-plate for reproduction by the Chelsea Pottery," stipulating that the designs be blue, simple in treatment, on a gray crackled ground. The pottery put several such student designs and those of other artists into production. The crackle ware produced in Dedham (where the pottery moved in 1895, and remained until 1968 when it closed), was its greatest commercial success."