Artistic China Company

View this page as a PDF     

HOW TO USE THE DATABASE

The Database is organized by location, but you can find a pottery initially by searching for its name, which is at the top of the of the page with dates of operation below. Alternate names and the names of other potteries on the same site are noted at the top of the right-hand column, just above the pottery’s location.

The types of wares made appear below the pottery name in the left-hand column, followed by the references that informed these classifications.

Sample images of maker’s marks may be enlarged by clicking on the image.

Notes include a variety of information compiled from many standard sources and are presented as miscellaneous tidbits.

In the Gallery and Map Gallery in the right-hand column you will see historic images and insurance maps of the pottery’s facilities if available as well as historic advertisements and images of the wares made.

You can download more detailed information in all of these categories by choosing a PDF of the pottery’s full listing, which also includes the documentary sources. The PDF is text only and does not contain any images.  Data from the 1860, 1870 and 1880 industrial censuses area also included in the PDF if they exist for a given pottery. This data gives you a picture of the size of the pottery operation and the age and gender makeup of its work force.

You can help expand the database by contributing pictures and information. Contact POTS by the email address at the bottom of the page.

In operation    1878-1903

Wares

Art ceramicPorcelainTablewareToilet sets

Fine china and porcelain (Quarter Century’s Progress 1887:269)

Notes

“This business was established in 1878 as the Hope China Works, which were succeeded by the present company February 1887…The fine china and porcelain manufactured and decorated by the Artistic China Company are unrivaled for beauty of design, fine coloring, quality, and excellence, and have no superiors in Trenton or elsewhere, while the prices quoted are as low as the lowest… The following goods are always kept in stock: Dinner, breakfast, tea, pie, and soup plates, fruit saucers, ice-cream, individual butters, comports, pickles, tea cups and saucers, coffee cups and saucers, after dinner coffees, teapots, sugar and cream bowls, cake plate, jug 30’s, nappies, bakers, cover dishes, casseroles, soup tureen, sauce tureen, sauce boat, covered butter, etc.”

— Quarter Century’s Progress of New Jersey’s Leading Manufacturing Centres. Dover. 1887. International Publishing Company, New York.

 

Selected References

Quarter Century’s Progress of New Jersey’s Leading Manufacturing Centres. Dover. 1887. International Publishing Company, New York.

Trenton Board of Trade. 1900.  Industrial Trenton and Vicinity. George A. Wolf Publishers, Wilmington, Delaware.

Harney, W.J. 1929. “Trenton’s First Potteries.” Sunday Times Advertiser, July 7, 14, 21 and 28, 1929.

Other firms at this site:

Other Names

Hope China Works; Artistic China Company; Artistic Company

Block and Lot:
15-2D/291

Historic Street Address:
52-60 Seward Avenue

Municipality:
City of Trenton

Image Gallery

1893 Artistic Pottery Works Advertisement

Map Gallery

Artistic China Company, 1881 Robinson Map
Artistic China Company, 1882 Haven Map
Artistic China Company, 1890 Sanborn Map
Artistic China Company, 1890 Scarlett & Scarlett Map
Map References

Sanborn‑Perris Map Company.  1890.   Insurance Maps of the City of Trenton, Mercer County, New Jersey. Sanborn‑Perris Map Company, New York, New York.   (Plate 21: shown as “Artistic China Co.”)

Scarlett & Scarlett.  1890.   Scarlett & Scarlett’s Fire Insurance Map of Mercer County.  Scarlett & Scarlett, Newark, New Jersey.  (Plate 54: shown as “Artistic China Co. not running”)