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National Gallery of Art - THE COLLECTION
image of Soap Dish and Strainer
Soap Dish and Strainer
Rendered by Roy Williams
watercolor, graphite, and pen and ink on paper, 21.9 x 17.6 cm (8 5/8 x 6 15/16 in.)
Index of American Design
1943.8.6164
From the Tour: Pottery from the Index of American Design
Object 15 of 17

This soap dish is finished in a type of glaze called flint enamel, made popular by the Fenton pottery in Bennington, Vermont. A flint-enamel finish is achieved by adding colored oxides to a brown Rockingham glaze or to a clear glaze. Here the green tones have been produced through the use of copper oxide. In 1849, Christopher Webber Fenton patented his method of adding color to glazed surfaces; Fenton's process consisted of sprinkling powdered oxides on a previously glazed piece and then firing it again. In the kiln, the oxides melted and fused with the glaze, producing a lustrous, enamellike surface of the kind we see here.

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