Commodore Hull Staffordshire Pearlware Plate
England, circa 1830 - Diameter: 8⅜ inches
 
A Staffordshire pearlware plate transfer-printed with the portrait of Commodore Isaac Hull, commander of the USS Constitution and among the foremost naval heroes of the War of 1812. Hull’s defeat of HMS Guerrière in August 1812 marked one of the earliest and most consequential American victories of the conflict, electrifying public sentiment and establishing the Constitution as an enduring emblem of national strength.
 
Produced in England for the American market, wares of this type reflect the continued commemoration of Hull’s victory in the decades following the war, when naval success remained central to the visual expression of American identity. Plates honoring Hull and related naval figures stand among the clearest expressions of how martial memory entered the domestic sphere through early nineteenth-century ceramics.
 
Condition: Excellent.