Schoolmasters preferred to stand
Schoolteachers — or, as they were called in the early 19th century, schoolmasters — stood in front of the class at a special schoolmaster’s desk. It was not used with a chair. The slanted desktop had a book ledge to hold a book so it could be easily read.
Usually the top opened and the inside had cubbyholes and other storage space. Many desks also had shallow drawers. Legs were plain and straight. Although desks were about 39 inches high, they could be customized to the height of the schoolmaster. By the end of the 19th century, teachers used desks with chairs.
Old schoolmaster desks often are used today by people with bad backs who like to stand while working. They are still being made.
Q: Among my many antiques is an old Chinese export tea pitcher. It dates from the late 1700s, I think, and has a mysterious picture of an eye on the bottom of the inside. Any idea why?
A: When we first started collecting years ago, Chinese export porcelain was very popular and expensive, but research into the patterns had just started. Several discoveries were reported that sounded like myths.
We know the porcelain was ordered by people in the United States, England and other Western countries. A customer sent a written order to China with a description or picture of the coat-of-arms or decorations wanted. About a year later, the finished dishes came back across the ocean.
People who ordered dishes often found mistakes and a number of off-color decorations. One mistake supposedly was a plate decorated in black and white with a border design and the words “paint this blue, paint this red.” Of course the Chinese craftsman couldn’t read English and he just copied the “design.”
Another tale was that someone sent Benjamin Franklin a lewd joke, a potty decorated with an eye in the bottom that would “see” his unmentionable body parts. We have seen these porcelain pieces, one in a museum and the other in a photograph. What the joke could be about an eye in the bottom of a tea pitcher we can’t imagine. Perhaps it was a pitcher for an alcoholic drink and the eye is watching to see if the user is drunk. But it certainly would be a pricey Chinese export rarity.
Q: My grandmother’s oak dining room set is in the arts and crafts style. The pieces are marked “Luce” in a circle. Can you tell me more?
A: Luce Furniture Co. worked in Grand Rapids, Mich., from 1896 to 1930, then reorganized and was open again from 1935 to 1938. In 1912, it claimed to be the largest shipper of Mission dining room furniture in the country. Luce made bedroom and dining room sets in every style, from Jacobean to art deco.
The printed name “Luce” in a circle was the trademark used on early pieces. In the 1930s, the mark was in script.
Terry Kovel’s column is syndicated by King Features. Write to: Kovels, (Las Vegas Review-Journal), King Features Syndicate, 300 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019.