Bun Basket1815–18353 × 12 1/2 × 8 1/2"Paint on tinplateGift of the Historical Society of Early American Decoration59.1701548904232Stevens TinshopContainersThe American Folk Art Museum believes this work to be in the public domain.http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster24594Stevens Plains (now Westbrook)Stevens Plains (now Westbrook)United StatesMaineThree Dimensional WorkseMuseum - Collection HighlightsStevens Plains (now Westbrook)Zachariah Brackett Stevens (1778–1856) is first known as a tinsmith in 1798, when he opened a shop in his native Stevens Plains, Maine. His success in markets as far away as New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Canada attracted other tinsmiths to Maine from Berlin, Connecticut, the center of American tinmaking from the time the industry was pioneered by Edward Pattison about fifty years earlier. From about 1825 to 1830, Stevens's sons Alfred and Samuel headed the operation. Many of the designs were applied while the base coat was still wet, in a technique known as "wet in wet." The double cherry is considered a Zachariah Stevens hallmark; other typical motifs include fluffy white and yellow flowers with varied petal structures and cross-hatching, shells, and three-pronged leaves.
Stacy C. Hollander, "Bun Basket," in American Anthem: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2001), 317.http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster24594http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster24594http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster2459418151835 59 17 Zachariah Brackett Stevens (1778–1856) is first known as a tinsmith in 1798, when he opened a shop in his native Stevens Plains, Maine. His success in markets as far away as New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Canada attracted other tinsmiths to Maine from Berlin, Connecticut, the center of American tinmaking from the time the industry was pioneered by Edward Pattison about fifty years earlier. From about 1825 to 1830, Stevens's sons Alfred and Samuel headed the operation. Many of the designs were applied while the base coat was still wet, in a technique known as "wet in wet." The double cherry is considered a Zachariah Stevens hallmark; other typical motifs include fluffy white and yellow flowers with varied petal structures and cross-hatching, shells, and three-pronged leaves.
Stacy C. Hollander, "Bun Basket," in American Anthem: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2001), 317.