Sugar Bowl

This blue and white transfer-printed earthenware sugar bowl made by the Staffordshire firm of Joseph Stubbs features a view of City Hall in New York. Located near Broadway and Park Row, City Hall was designed by New York architect John McComb, Jr. (1765–1853) and French-born New York engineer-architect Joseph Francois Mangin (?–after 1818). Construction lasted from 1803 to 1812 and cost more than $500,000. Situated on scenic landscaped grounds of City Hall Park, its expansive rusticated Massachusetts marble facade crowned by a towering cupola in an architectural blend of French Renaissance and English Georgian styles distinguished the edifice as one of the most impressive American municipal buildings of the era. It was a popular subject for transfer-printed export wares because of its obvious appeal to civic-minded American consumers. Another view of the building appears, for example, on a plate, 10.57.8, by John & William Ridgway (ca. 1814–1830). Both views of City Hall by Stubbs and Ridgway were based on a drawing by Irish painter William Guy Wall (1792–after 1863) engraved by London-born New York and Philadelphia engraver John Hill (1770–1850) and published in 1826 by Behr & Kahl. The engraving was dedicated to Philip Hone (1780–1851), mayor of New York from 1825 to 1826, and was completed shortly after changes were made to the figure of Justice on the cupola. Stubbs adapted Wall’s composition for a pair of architectural American views with identical borders of large roses in full bloom produced for the United States export market. The pendant view is of the Boston State House. The American Wing's collection also contains additional pieces by Stubbs. Refer to the Dictionary for a definition of the term "transfer printing" and for information about the above-mentioned firms.