Magazine Features Paris Porcelain In Antebellum Alabama

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — “The mantelpieces of affluent antebellum Alabama houses,” writes Edward Pattillo in the fall 2000 issue of Alabama Heritage magazine, “were decorated in the rococo taste that reflected the Cotton Kingdom’s love of the opulent.” That love grew in sentimentality after the Civil War. As Pattillo explains, people of the post-war South displayed Paris porcelain in order to portend a palingenesis and to declare a preference for the past.

But lost in all this is the fact that “Paris porcelain” often wasn’t from Paris at all. English and continental factories shipped great quantities of unmarked white and gold porcelain to the United States, along with such ostentatiously ornate objects as richly painted flared vases. Indeed, most European porcelain of this era was stylistically similar, and it is therefore often difficult for anyone but the most expert appraiser to differentiate between porcelain made in England, France, Germany, or even Austria.

In his article, Pattillo recounts the history of porcelain — from its roots in China to its rich glory days in King Louis XV’s court in France and beyond. Replete with photographs and detailed descriptions of various exemplary items and services of “Paris” porcelain — many still held in private collections throughout Alabama — the article is required reading for serious collectors of fine china.

Edward Pattillo, former curator of the Judicial Department of Alabama, Montgomery, last wrote for Alabama Heritage in 1999, when he explored Alabama’s mysterious early painter, Adrian Thompson. An alumnus of The University of Alabama and Columbia University, Pattillo is currently an active appraiser of personal property and a consultant for the museums and the history program of the new Federal Judicial Building in Montgomery.

Alabama Heritage is a nonprofit quarterly magazine published by The University of Alabama and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. To order the magazine, write Alabama Heritage, Box 870342, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0342, or call 205/348-7467.