c. 1849

Book Flask

American Rockingham wares were popular in the Unites States from the mid-nineteenth through the early twentieth centuries. The term "Rockingham" derives from an English factory on the estate of the Marquess of Rockingham that produced ceramic objects from 1745 until 1842. The factory became known for its mottled manganese-brown glazes and for its relief-molded decorations, often in the revived Rococo style (characterized by the use of leaf and flower motifs, curves and sinuous lines, and organic forms). When pottery manufacturers in the eastern United States and Ohio began to produce wares with similar glazes and designs in the early nineteenth century, the objects became known as "American Rockingham."