Fig. 1 Celery vase with celery stalks. Photograph©The Strong Museum, Rochester, NY |
Fig. 2 Celery vase, E. V. Haughwout and Company (active 1855-1861), 1855-1860, New York City, New York. Cut glass. Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX |
Fig. 3 Celery vase, 1850-1870, America. Pressed glass. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY |
In the final decades of the
nineteenth century, the celery dish became available as an alternative to the traditional celery
vase. Celery dishes usually assume the form of a long, narrow oval,
frequently with handles at the ends. Unlike the tall and vertical celery vase, the celery dish is low and
horizontal. Both forms were offered by manufacturers into the early twentieth century.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, celery dishes were manufactured in a variety of materials including porcelain, cut glass, and pressed glass. Examples made of porcelain frequently feature painted decoration of sprays of flowers and a border of slightly raised gilt scrolls. A large proportion of porcelain celery dishes were manufactured in Europe by companies such as Haviland of Limoges, France, and R.S. Prussia in Germany.
Fig. 5 Celery vase, Lyman, Fenton & Co. (active 1849- 1852), 1849-1852, Bennington, Vermont. Earthenware with flint-enamel glaze. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY |
At the turn of the twentieth century, porcelain dinner services made in France, England, and Germany flooded the American market. These services usually included a dish for celery in addition to many other serving pieces.
Between 1890 and 1920, celery dishes
were also manufactured in American Brilliant cut glass (fig. 6). Made of a heavy lead
glass deeply cut with diamonds, stars, fans, hobnails, and other faceted motifs,
Brilliant glass celery dishes beautifully refracted the light and, in
combination with other cut-glass tableware, created a lustrous effect at the
dining table.