Meat-pie dish
1800–50
Medium
Earthenware
Dimensions
6 × 34 × 29.9 cm (2 3/8 × 13 3/8 × 11 3/4 in.)
Classification
vessel for serving food
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
78135
Art Historical Context
This charming meat-pie dish, crafted from earthenware between 1800 and 1850, offers a glimpse into everyday life in the Americas during the early 19th century. Measuring a practical 6 × 34 × 29.9 cm, its oval shape and modest size were perfectly suited for serving hearty meat pies—a staple of colonial and frontier cuisine that combined meat, vegetables, and pastry in a portable, flavorful dish. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Arts the Americas department, this work exemplifies utilitarian pottery, blending functionality with subtle folk artistry. Earthenware, a low-fired clay body of...