Plate

Description

Maritime trade was an important inspiration for ornament on late 1700s ceramics. This transfer-printed English creamware plate portrays a late 1700s scene of the harbor at Salem, Massachusetts. Research on the design source for the ceramic scene has been done by the Salem Maritime National Historic Site (part of the National Park Service) and identifies the view as being from the upper portion of a Membership Certificate for the Salem Marine Society, the document having been designed by Abjiah Northey in 1797. “The Salem Marine Society was founded in 1766 by a group of captains from Salem and Beverly. Its purpose was to provide assistance to members if they became ill or met with other difficulties and to assist the widows of deceased members. [They also] encouraged mapping of the coastline in order to improve local navigation. In the 1790s, they sponsored the placement of buoys in Salem Harbor, and the construction of a beacon on Baker's Island, thus improving the safety of vessels in the harbor. […] The image at the top of the Salem Marine Society membership certificate is one of the earliest depictions of Salem Harbor. The view is from the shipyard of Enos Briggs at Stage Point, across the South River and towards the Atlantic Ocean. Derby Wharf, with its three tall warehouses, is in the center of the image, while in the foreground are the flakes or stages where codfish would be dried before being packed in barrels of salt. On the horizon is the new lighthouse on Baker's Island. This lighthouse was built in 1797 to replace the Salem Marine Society's unlighted beacon.” (See https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/marine-society.htm ) The plate is the second of Winterthur’s European-made objects that portrays a late 1700s view of Salem Harbor. The other is a Dutch engraving (see 1956.0025) from the 1770s, titled “Vue de Salem,” and showing the harbor from a different angle than on the plate.