On View
Not on viewObject number1991/2.45
Bats in the Moonlight
Artist
John Hamilton Delaney Wareham
(American, 1871-1954)
Maker
Rookwood Pottery
Date1896
Mediumporcelain
DimensionsOverall: 11 1/4 × 4 1/4 × 4 1/4 in. (28.6 × 10.8 × 10.8 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mrs. Frank W. Sassaman
Exhibition History"BOO! Images of the Macabre," KIA Groos Gallery (Oct. 5, 2103 - Jan. 26, 2014).
"Arty's Zooseum," KIA, Interactive Gallery (December 11, 2021 - March 6, 2022)Label TextRookwood Pottery’s graceful designs and colorful glazes (including the bright “sea green” glaze seen here) helped it become one of the most successful American art pottery manufacturers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It was founded after Maria Longworth Nichols Storer, the daughter of Cincinnati lawyer, real estate magnate, and arts patron Joseph Longworth, was inspired by Japanese ceramics she saw at the Centennial International Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876. In business in Cincinnati from 1880 to 1967 (and since revived in the twenty-first century), the company became known for the freedom it offered to its designers. It fashioned inventive vases, tiles, and other ceramics that often mirrored the evolving tastes of upper-middle-class Americans across the decades in which it operated.
This vase’s sleek shape and plant and bat motifs were likely inspired by the Art Nouveau style then enjoying its heyday in the United States and Europe. Artist John Hamilton Delaney Wareham was also inspired by East Asian ceramics, and the flowers and bats may also reflect this interest. Wareham joined Rookwood’s decorating department in 1893, eventually becoming president of the company in 1934. However, by this time the company was fading into obscurity as the market for luxury goods dried up during the Great Depression.
