Plate from the Collection of Augustus the Strong of Saxony
China, about 1700
Museum Purchase with Funds Provided by the Buddy Taub Foundation, Dennis and Jill Roach, Directors \\\ Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland (1670-1733), was one of the most insatiable collectors of porcelain of all times. He acquired over 24,000 pieces of Chinese and Japanese porcelain, and his interest led him to found the Meissen Factory, which was the first European pottery to produce porcelain.

Pitcher made by Charles Cartlidge and Company
Brooklyn, New York, 1848-1856
Gift of Emma and Jay Lewis \\\ Molded in relief with stalks and ears of corn, this pitcher symbolizes the agricultural bounty of the United States. It was made by Charles Cartlidge and Company, which had been founded in Brooklyn by Charles Cartlidge, an immigrant potter from England, in 1848. While much of the company’s output consisted of utilitarian wares like door knobs, it also produced decorated pitchers like this one. Where most American porcelain of this period copied English examples, the relief-molded corn pitcher is an original American design.

American Pickle made by Michelle Erickson
Virginia, 2008
Museum Purchase with Funds Provided by Herbert G. McKay \\\ The Reeves Center, best known for its collection of historic Chinese export porcelain, recently acquired its first piece of contemporary ceramics, American Pickle, by Michelle Erickson. American Pickle is accurate copy of a pickle stand made between 1770 and 1772 by Gousse Bonnin and George Morris's American Porcelain Manufactory in Philadelphia. But it is more than just a replica of an eighteenth-century antique; Erickson's addition of Chinese characters and the inscription "Made in China" reminds us that the West's trade imbalance with China is not a new phenomenon, but dates back to the sixteenth century, when direct trade between China and Europe began. It is also a reminder of the vast influence that Chinese blue-and-white porcelain has had on European and American ceramics.

Soup Plate
China, 1780
Gift of Bruce C. Perkins \\\ This rare soup plate depicts a view of the port of Canton. Now known as Guangzhou, Canton is located in southern China and has long been one of China's most international cities. Guangzhou was the only port in China open to European and American merchants from 1757 to 1842, and so for most Westerners, was the only part of China that they ever saw. According to Samuel Shaw, one of the first Americans to reach Guangzhou, noted with some disappointment that "Europeans, after a dozen years' residence, have not seen more than what the first month presented to view."

Flower Pot made by Solomon Bell
Strasburg, Virginia, 1860-1890
Gift of Donald and Irene Gavin \\\ This is the first piece of Shenandoah Valley pottery to enter the Reeves Collection. It was made by Solomon Bell, who operated a pottery with his brother Samuel in Strasburg, Virginia. The Bells produced utilitarian and decorative earthenwares and stonewares used throughout the northern part of the Shenandoah, and were among the best known and most prolific of the many potters active in the Valley in the nineteenth century.