A Chelsea Keramic Art Works Vase with a Portrait of William Lloyd Garrison

Ceramics in America 2023

Published by the Chipstone Foundation

By James D. Kaufman

ABOLITIONIST THEMES ARE PRESENT on myriad examples of English ceramics made in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, many of which were sold into the American market However, there seem to be only a few abolition themed picces created by American potters. This vase, made by the Chelsea Keramic Art Works, is a rare exception!

The green-glazed, flat-sided oval vase features a portrait of the prominent American abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison (1805-1879) and handles in the form of broken chains (fig. 2). Painted or inscribed faintly under the glaze and beneath the portrait is a quote that seems to read “No distinction on account of color” followed by “Garrison” (fig- 3).

William Lloyd Garrison was perhaps the most prominent white abolitionist of the nineteenth century. He was an eloquent and prolific speaker…