Lotus Ware Ewer

The East Liverpool company of Knowles, Taylor and Knowles produced this Etruscan-style ewer in the 1890s. It measures 9 by 11 inches (14 by 24.5 cm). The ewer is a piece of Lotus Ware, a type of porcelain developed by the company in 1892. It was the first American-produced porcelain that could rival the well-established European companies. Lotus Ware won top awards at the World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893. The popular porcelain was advertised as "the whitest, purest, thinnest and handsomest art china for decorating manufactured." Lotus Ware was manufactured from 1892 to 1896. It was expensive to make, because the fragile china frequently broke in the heat of the kiln. Workers sometimes took pieces of unbroken Lotus Ware home with them, due to its value and beauty. Isaac W. Knowles opened a small pottery in East Liverpool in 1854. In 1870, John Taylor and Homer S. Knowles joined the company. The operation expanded during the next two decades. By the 1880s, Knowles, Taylor and Knowles was producing translucent china. By 1890, the company was the largest manufacturer of white granite plain and decorative ware in the nation.