Aesthetic Ambitions: Edward Lycett and Brooklyn's Faience Manufacturing Company December 14, 2012

During the 1880s, the Faience Manufacturing Company (1881-1892) earned praise for producing ornamental ceramics that "surpassed everything previously produced in this country." These bold and eclectic wares display a synthesis of Japanese, Chinese, and Islamic influences characteristic of the Aesthetic Movement style. The firm owed its artistic and commercial success to Edward Lycett, an English china painter who became its artistic director in 1884, having successfully practiced his craft after immigrating to New York City in 1861. Lycett reached his creative apogee at the Faience Manufacturing Company, where he experimented with ceramic bodies and glazes and designed opulent wares. He supervised a team of talented artists, including James Callowhill of the English firm Worcester Royal Porcelain, who decorated the vessels with exotic motives in vibrant hues and costly gold-paste.