Page 29 - Saturday 3rd & Sunday 4th October Auction catalogue

725. WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE POT LID. 5ins diam, a very large and impressive multi-coloured lid, most likely made by Bates Walker & Co around 1876. The striking image depicts Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River during the American Revolutionary War occurred before the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776. The image
on the lid is taken from a painting by George Sully, ‘The Passage of the Delaware’, painted in 1819. Sully (1783-1872) had settled in Philadelphia in 1806 and lived there for the rest of his life. It is also seen in a black and lilac/ purple monochrome print.
Henry P. & William C. Taylor perfumers were sons and successors to Curtis Taylor original manufacturer of superior transparent soap, a business established 1819. They were awarded medals by the Franklin and American Institute and at the World’s Fair London 1851 (The Crystal Palace ‘Great Exhibition’). At the 1853 exhibition they created a stain glass window made from their coloured transparent soaps made at the factory at 379-381 (641- 643) North Ninth Street).
* Glassworks Auctions sold a black print for $5,500 and an example of the colour print at $13,000 in May this year. Their
“An Indian Buffalo Hunt” after the painting by
George Catlin, sold for $7020. This example is
The partnership is recorded in directories between 1853-1862 and the shop can be seen in early photographs of the 1870s. The use of early American
a superb well struck production (believed made for the stand of the perfumers at the Philadelphia Exhibition) in truly magnificent condition apart from a tiny pin head nick at the very bottom where it would touch its original base. An exceptional and rare offering.
(9.9/10) £4,000-5,000+
paintings as the basis for the pot lid prints is connected to photography. William Curtis Taylor took up photography by 1863. He photographed the Centennial Exposition in 1876, and in 1884 was the sole photographer at the Electrical Exhibition. In 1886, he conducted a study of over 40 paintings and prints of George Washington and, by means of composite photography, attempted to create a true likeness of the president. His photographic studio was W. Curtis Taylor & Co continued after his retirement in 1889 and he died in 1905.