Bonnin and Morris: New Perspectives on Philadelphia’s Role in the Production of Early American Porcelain
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Van Pelt Auditorium, main building, ground floor
Paid tickets required (Members: $40; Nonmembers: $50)
This symposium, sponsored by the Center for American Art and Sotheby’s, explores the history of Bonnin & Morris's porcelain and surviving wares, English precedents for this work, forms produced at the factory, the recently discovered site of Bartlam’s porcelain factory outside Charleston (which predates Bonnin & Morris’s factory), and scientific analysis of the firm’s wares and saggars.
This symposium is being held in conjunction with the exhibition Colonial Philadelphia Porcelain: The Art of Bonnin and Morris.
Symposium Schedule
9:00 a.m.
Welcome and Opening Remarks
9:30 a.m.
Keynote Lecture: Revisiting the American China
Graham Hood, author of Bonnin and Morris of Philadelphia (1972) and Chief Curator Emeritus, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Virginia
10:00 a.m.
Bow Porcelain
David Redstone, M.D., independent scholar and co-author with Elizabeth Adams of Bow Porcelain (1981)
10:30 a.m.
Fossils and Fantasy: The Presence of the Real in Rococo Design
Glenn Adamson, Ph.D., Head of Graduate Studies and Deputy Head of Research, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
11:00 a.m.
Food Transforms: Dining and the Evolution of 18th-Century Porcelain Shapes
Donna Corbin, Associate Curator of European Decorative Arts, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and President of the American Ceramic Circle
11:30 a.m.
Reading between the Lines on Bonnin and Morris
Diana Stradling, independent scholar and antiques dealer,The Stradlings
noon–2:00 p.m.
Lunch
2:00 p.m.
John Bartlam: America’s First Porcelain Manufacturer
Robert Hunter, Fellow, Society of Antiquaries, Editor, Ceramics in America
2:30 p.m.
Comparative Geochemistry of 18th-Century American Porcelain
J. Victor Owen, Ph.D., Professor of Geology, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia
3:00 p.m.
Philadelphia’s Other Potworks . . . the Cambrian Pottery, Swansea!
Jonathan Gray, independent scholar and editor of two volumes of Welsh Ceramics in Context (2003 and 2005)
3:30 p.m.
Making a Bonnin and Morris Pickle Stand: A Live Demonstration
Michelle Erickson, ceramic artist, Michelle Erickson Pottery, Inc.
5:30–7:30 p.m.
Exhibition Reception
Great Stair Hall Balcony
For more information about the symposium, please call (215) 684-7596. Symposium fees include Museum admission, all lectures, and a box lunch. To register for the symposium or the exhibition reception by phone, call (215) 235-SHOW (7469).
