"Shelledge" dinner and luncheon plate with flowers

This plate is part of one of the most elegant American Art Deco dinnerware sets to appear on the market—the Shelledge line made by the Onondaga Pottery Company of Syracuse China. It was designed by R. Guy Cowan, who in 1931 assumed the position of art director at the well-established Syracuse firm. The forms are clean-lined versions of traditional tableware, but the boldly fluted edges offer a strong, mechanistic quality. At the center of each pure white porcelain plate are intaglio designs of flowers, fruit, and tropical fish that are conventionalized into Art Deco geometric elements. These decorative schemes reflect the French modern style of the mid 1920s—which in America saw vibrant expression in architectural decoration, such as on New York City’s Chanin building. While the Art Deco style is generally synonymous with a distinctive, bright palette, here it is colorless and only subtly perceptible. In contrast to the majority of the new wave of American modern dinnerware of the 1930s, which was of a more informal character and was usually produced in heavier earthenware, here the white porcelain emphasizes the stateliness of the serving pieces and the set’s overall formal qualities.