Platter

Produced in potteries throughout England in the first half of the 19th century, spatterware—earthenware with brightly colored speckled decoration— was intended primarily for the American market, where its vivid colors and bold patterns were greatly admired. Decorated by tapping a brush or blowing powdered pigments onto the surface of a vessel through a straw prior to firing, spatterware was produced in a broad range of patterns and a wide variety of subjects. Hand-painted images of flowers, fruits, and birds often appear, with peafowl among the most popular designs imported into the United States. Spatterware’s bold patterns and striking color combinations would have added a distinct visual liveliness to the 19th-century American home. It was particularly popular in Pennsylvania, where the German and Northern European taste for bright color and bold patterns persisted well into the 19th century.