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WALTER SCOTT LENOX AND AMERICAN BELLEEK
RICHES FROM AMERICA’S GILDED AGE
BY BRIAN GALLAGHER
In United States history, the last three decades of the 19th century and first few of the 20th century are known as the Gilded Age. The American economy doubled in size during those years. Railroads, factories, mining, and other industries flourished, and for some individuals, remarkable fortunes were made.
It was a time of conspicuous consumption and ostentatious living for affluent, fashion-conscious consumers, and highend retailers throughout the country — Tiffany’s in New York, Bailey, Banks and Biddle in Philadelphia, Marshall Field’s in Chicago, to name a few — sold a wide array of luxury goods to those wanting to outfit their residences in splendor. Among these products was a refined porcelain known as American Belleek.
The term “Belleek” comes from the name of a small village in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It was home to ceramics manufacturer David McBirney and Company, which in 1863 perfected a fine, ivory-colored porcelain with a light, eggshell-thin body. The firm’s wares quickly became prized among discerning customers in the British Isles.
As the porcelain’s popularity then spread across the Atlantic, several ceramic manufactories in Trenton, New Jersey — known then as the “Staffordshire of America,” because of the city’s profusion of ceramics-related concerns with their accompanying smokestacks and bottle kilns liberally sprinkling Trenton’s skyline — sought to make their own versions.
In 1882, Trenton ceramics manufacturer Ott and Brewer, already a significant producer of hotel dinnerware and other utilitarian ceramics, became the first factory in the United States to produce a porcelain in imitation of Irish Belleek. Former Belleek factory employees William Bromley, Sr.; his son William Bromley, Jr.; and other Irish workers had recently joined Ott and Brewer and contributed the necessary expertise to help ensure the firm’s success.
Just as Ott and Brewer was beginning to develop its Belleek offerings, the 22-year-old Trenton native Walter Scott Lenox (1859–1920) joined the firm to lead its decorating department. As a youth, he studied painting and drawing and apprenticed at another Trenton ceramics factory. His arrival at Ott and Brewer on the eve of its launch of a new Belleek-type porcelain could not have been better timed. In his own words, he “created good designs, and pottery that sold well.”
In 1884, Lenox was lured away from Ott and Brewer by Trenton competitor Willets Manufacturing Company to become the manager of its decorating department. Willets, like Ott and Brewer, was already producing utilitarian ceramics, but probably with Lenox’s urging the factory eventually started developing its own Belleek-type porcelain body.
Willets invited Irishman William Bromley, Jr., Lenox’s former colleague at Ott and Brewer, to join the firm, and in 1887 the firm publicly announced its new “Art Porcelain.” Walter Scott Lenox was once again contributing American Belleek designs for a large Trenton manufacturer. He continued doing so for two more years before leaving Willets to start Ceramic Art Company. He was 30 years old.
Lenox’s primary partner in this new enterprise was Jonathan Coxon, Sr., who also had an extensive background in the ceramics industry. Lenox and Coxon had an ambitious vision for their new company. Ceramic Art Company would create pieces of high artistic merit in a Belleek-type porcelain, and nothing else.
This singular focus immediately set the firm apart from Ott and Brewer and Willets Manufacturing Company, both of which continued to produce utilitarian ceramics even after they developed their porcelain recipes. In 1896, Jonathan Coxon retired from Ceramic Art Company, and Lenox took over as the company’s president and treasurer.
Ten years later, the firm officially changed its name to Lenox, Incorporated. The company has undergone various restructurings and relocations since its namesake died, but it is still in operation today. Under Lenox’s artistic leadership, all three firms — Ott and Brewer, Willets Manufacturing Company, and Ceramic Art Company — produced some of the finest porcelain in America’s Gilded Age.
On view September 23, 2023–January 21, 2024 at Mint Museum Randolph, Walter Scott Lenox and American Belleek features 80 stellar examples of these works, on loan from notable public and private U.S. collections and the Mint’s own holdings.
Walter Scott Lenox and American Belleek is generously presented by Wells Fargo Private Bank. Individual sponsorship is kindly provided by Hillary and Fairfax Cooper, Laura and Mike Grace, Mozelle DePass Griffith, and Liz and Dave Shuford.
