Ceramic Art 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    1889-1906

Wares

Art ceramicBelleekTablewareToilet sets

Belleek china, Belleek vases (Industrial Directory 1901)

Belleek china (Industrial Directory 1906)

Maker's Marks

Click to enlarge

Notes

“Jonathan Coxon, Sr., who served as superintendent of the Ott & Brewer plant during most of [the] period of American Belleek production, entered into a partnership with [Walter Scott] Lenox in 1889 establishing the Ceramic Art Company at Prince and Mead Streets. He and Lenox applied their knowledge of the new process to their own production. Coxon retired in 1896 from pottery making but Lenox continued the Ceramic Art Company changing the company name to Lenox in 1906. From the very inception, the Ceramic Art Company concentrated its effort on the creation of high quality Belleek porcelains creating some of the finest decorative porcelains ever produced in the United States.”

— Goldberg, David J. 1998.  Preliminary Notes on the Pioneer Potters and Potteries of Trenton, N.J.: The First Thirty Years – 1852 – 1882 (And Beyond).  Privately published, Trenton, New Jersey.

Selected References

Ceramic Art Company. 1891.  The Ceramic Art Co.: Potters and Decorators of Belleek China, Indian China, and Artists’ Specialties.  E. O. Wagner, New York.

Ceramic Art Company. 1897.  The Ceramic Art Co.: Makers and Decorators of Exclusive Productions in Artistic China and Porcelains.  Ceramic Art Company, Trenton.

Holmes, George Sanford. 1924.  Lenox China: The Story of Walter Scott Lenox. Lenox Incorporated, United States.

Holmes, George Sanford. 1937. “Walter Scott Lenox.” Bulletin of the American Ceramic Society 16 (April):177-80.

Gaston, Mary Frank. 1984.  American Belleek.  Collector Books, Paducah, Kentucky.

Denker, Ellen Paul. 1989.  Lenox China: Celebrating a Century of Quality 1889-1989.  Lenox, Inc., Trenton, New Jersey.

Frelinghuysen, Alice Cooney. 1989.  American Porcelain, 1770-1920.  Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York.

Goldberg, David J. 1998.  Preliminary Notes on the Pioneer Potters and Potteries of Trenton, N.J.: The First Thirty Years – 1852 – 1882 (And Beyond).  Privately published, Trenton, New Jersey.

Hunter, Richard W. 2005. “Lenox Factory Buildings Demolished.” Trenton Potteries 5(2/3):1-10.

Denker, Ellen. 2009.  Faces & Flowers: Painting on Lenox China.  University of Richmond Museums, Richmond, Virginia.

Lenox, Inc. n.d.  The Story of Lenox Belleek China.  Lenox, Inc. Trenton, New Jersey.

Other firms at this site:

Other Names

Ceramic Art Company

Block and Lot:
195E/91

Historic Street Address:
Mead Street and Prince Street; Mead Street near Prince Street; Mead Street corner St. Joes Avenue; 15 Prince Street; 50 Mead; 15 Prince

Municipality:
City of Trenton

Image Gallery

Ceramic Art Company c. 1890s Original Building
Ceramic Art Company c. 1890s Pottery Yard
Bruno Geyer, painter, on Ceramic Art Company plate from service made for NJ governor Franklin Murphy, 1904
Bruno Geyer, painter, on Ceramic Art Company plate from service made for NJ governor Franklin Murphy, 1904
Ceramic Art Company porcelain carved by Kate B. Sears, ca. 1892
Ceramic Art Company porcelain carved by Kate B. Sears, ca. 1892
Cabinet plate, 1904-1905. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Dr. and Mrs. Burton P. Fabricand Gift, 2015
Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of Dale and Lenora Lenox Marshall
Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of Dale and Lenora Lenox Marshall
Vase, slip-cast belleek porcelain with polychrome painted decoration, made by Ceramic Art Company, 1895-1905, 7 in H. The neck is delicately pierced. The arrangement of the various decorative treatments suggests Japanese influence. Collection of the New Jersey State Museum, CH1968.95.3
Commemorative Stein, slip-cast porcelain transfer printed with an image of Teddy Roosevelt as a Rough Rider, made by Ceramic Art Company, ca. 1898, 5.625 in H. The war with Spain for the liberation of Cuba lasted ten weeks in 1898. Roosevelt resigned his post as Assistant Secretary of the Navy to form a rag-tag volunteer regiment made up of polo players, hunters, cowboys, Native Americans, and athletic college buddies. Eventually known as “Roosevelt's Rough Riders,” the regiment became famous for its victory in the battle for San Juan Heights, which Roosevelt called “the great day of my life.” Collection of the New Jersey State Museum, CH1981.8.2
Vase, slip-cast belleek porcelain with painted decoration by Hans Nosek for the Ceramic Art Company, 1903-1905, 12.875 in H. Collection of the New Jersey State Museum, CH1983.54
Vase, slip-cast belleek porcelain painted with flowers by William H. Morley for the Ceramic Art Company, 1900-1906, 14.438 in H. Collection of the New Jersey State Museum, CH1986.22

Map Gallery

Ceramic Art Company, 1890 Scarlett & Scarlett Map
Ceramic Art Company, 1890 Sanborn Map
Ceramic Art Company, 1905 Lathrop 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 “Ceramic Art Co.”)

Scarlett & Scarlett.  1890.   Scarlett & Scarlett’s Fire Insurance Map of Mercer County.  Scarlett & Scarlett, Newark, New Jersey.  (Shown as “Ceramic Art Co.”)

Lathrop, J. M. 1905.   Atlas of the City of Trenton and Borough of Princeton. A.H. Mueller & Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  (Plate 15: shown as “Ceramic Art Co.”)