Object Record
Images
Additional Images [2]
Metadata
Object ID # |
2017.045.028ab |
Object Name |
Dish, Cheese |
Title |
Hand-Painted Cheese Dish |
Year Range from |
1887 |
Year Range to |
1888 |
Made |
Franz Anton Mehlem pottery |
Place of Origin |
England, United Kingdom/Germany |
Description |
Two-piece ceramic cheese dish that belonged to Hugh and Jane McKay family and was used at their farm. The rectangular white glazed base (a) is stamped with a small impressed circular maker's trademark (=FRANZ ANTON MEHLEM BONN GERMANY), and a "2", and also has a printed British Registry mark with Rd 75780. The sloping lid cover (b) has a moulded corrugated exterior, and has a criss-crossed ceramic lift handle, embellished with gilt decor, underneath which are two side-by-side drilled vent holes. It also has a floral hand-painted design, and a gilt horizontal striping and stipple border at the bottom edge. The interior has several numerals delicately painted in red by the decorator. |
Makers mark |
The underside of the cover has red-painted numerals by the decorator. The underside of the base plate has two marks, one is circular with a nearby 2. It is hard to read it, but the outer wording =FRANZ ANTON MEHLEM BONN GERMANY and the interior has some sort of numerical cipher? The other mark is a transfer-printed British registry mark with Rd. 75780 (dates it to 1887-1888). The top might have 37 or 57? 24 is at the left. The right hand symbol is not visible. |
Provenance |
Made by and stamped with the Franz Anton Mehlem pottery trademark of Bonn, Germany, and likely decorated there. The British registry mark printed on it dates it to between 1887-1888. Then it was exported to Canada. Used by Hugh McKay and his wife Jane (Jeanette, née Chadwick), after their marriage on December 27, 1893. The Hugh and Jeanette (Jane) McKay family (they had six sons and two daughters) farmed in the Annan/Leith area of Sydenham Township, Grey County. The McKay family farm was located about one mile north of Leith, at Lot 28, Concession A. One son, Donald Gordon (Doug) McKay, and his wife Olive (née Beattie, m. 1930), also farmed there in Sydenham Township, until 1940, when they moved to Derby Township to another farm (Lot 9, Concession 8, along Highway 21). The item was last kept by their daughter, Donna McKay-Mills of Owen Sound, Grey County. |
Collection |
Food Service Tools & Equipment |
Material |
Ceramic/Porcelain/Glaze/Paint/Transfer Print |
Dimensions |
W-23.5 L-17.7 cm |
Found |
Derby Township (formerly), Township of Georgian Bluffs, Grey County |
People |
McKay, Hugh McKay, Donald Gordon (Doug) McKay, James Wesley (Wes) McKay, Kenneth Russell McKay, Olive McKay, Godfrey |
Subjects |
Cheese Tableware China Painting |
Search Terms |
Sydenham Township Victorian |
Function |
Cheese dishes were not only decorative, they helped keep pests from contaminating the cheese. People would have a storekeeper cut a wedge of cheese for them to take home from a larger wheel of cheese at the store. Cheese dishes were vented. |