  
  About the Artwork
  
  
  The Grueby Faience Company in Boston employed young women as modelers, who worked on surface decorations prior to an object&acirc;&#128;&#153;s firing. This vase was designed and its decorations were modeled, or applied, by Wilhemina Post, who began at Grueby before 1904. Little is known about Post&acirc;&#128;&#153;s background, and there is no record of her studying at Massachusetts Normal Art School or the School of the Museum of Fine Arts.1 Most women who worked at Grueby are thought to have been graduates of the Boston School of Design. The Grueby Faience Company flourished and gained a solid reputation both nationally and internationally with their hand&Acirc;&shy; thrown vessels, applied decorative elements, and matte glazes.
 
The shape of this ware was probably inspired by the American bird&acirc;&#128;&#153;s-foot trefoil of the Lotus family, the most common species in the United States. Distinguished by its long stem (stalk), leaf configuration, and tree leaflets, the trefoil&acirc;&#128;&#153;s flower typically varies from lemon-yellow, as is the case with those on the vase, to orange. The flared neck, long shaft, bulbous base lined by large, notched (arched) leaves, and the matte green glaze, known as &acirc;&#128;&#156;Grueby Green,&acirc;&#128;&#157;2 suggest the organic nature of the plant .
 
In regard to Grueby&acirc;&#128;&#153;s floral design elements, Ellen Paul Danker and Bert Randall Danker note that &acirc;&#128;&#156;the decorations are based on real plants, identifiable though rendered abstractly.&acirc;&#128;&#157;3 Many decorative elements similar to the Trefoil Vase are found on other Grueby vessels. Colored applied flowers, for example, are present on multiple vessels, ranging from daffodils, tulips, and pond lilies, to single and multiple petaled flowers. Michael E. Crane
 
Adapted from Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 81, nos. 1&Acirc;&shy;&acirc;&#128;&#147;2 (2007): 38&acirc;&#128;&#147;39.
 
Notes
1. The term &acirc;&#128;&#156;modeler&acirc;&#128;&#157; appears in a 1903 letter from William Graves, an initial partner of Grueby. For more information, see S. Montgomery, The Ceramics of William H. Grueby: The Spirit of the New Idea in Artistic Handicraft (Lambertville, N.J., 1993), 74&acirc;&#128;&#147;77, 112&acirc;&#128;&#147;13.
2. &acirc;&#128;&#156;Grueby Green&acirc;&#128;&#157; is an often-used term to describe the green glaze first put forth by the Grueby Faience Company. This popular glaze was often imitated.
3. See W. Kaplan and E. Boris, &acirc;&#128;&#156;The Art that is Life&acirc;&#128;&#157;: The American Crafts Movement in America, 1875&acirc;&#128;&#147;1920 (Boston, 1987), 258.
  
  
  Title
  Trefoil vase
  
  
  Artwork Date
  between 1905 and 1907
  
  
  
  
  Makers
  
  
  (Designer)
  Wilhemina Post
  1898 - 1907
  Grueby Faience Co.  (Manufacturer)
  American, 1894 - 1909
  
  
  
  Medium
  Earthenware
  
  
  Dimensions
  Overall: 17 3/4 &Atilde;&#151; 8 3/4 inches (45.1 &Atilde;&#151; 22.2 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Ceramics
  
  
  Department
  American Art before 1950
  
  
  Credit
  Founders Society Purchase, Edward E. Rothman Fund, Merrill Fund, Eleanor and Edsel Ford Exhibition and Acquisition Fund and Gibbs-Williams Fund
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum&acirc;&#128;&#153;s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems&acirc;&#128;&#148;no longer assigned&acirc;&#128;&#148;that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  2001.132
  
  
  Copyright
  Copyright Not Evaluated
  
  
  
