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Esther Stevens Brazer chose the title “Early American Decoration" for her book. It was interesting to me that she selected ‘American’ to describe the various methods and uses of decoration in her book and her other published articles. Most of the forms and techniques mentioned by her were adapted or copied from the work of European craftsmen - our early tinsmiths and furniture makers. American design represents all forms of design in the same manner as the American people represent all races and creeds.
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Stencilling has been used for centuries. The Greeks stencilled vases. In the first century, the Romans stencilled letters and advocated their use in learning the alphabet. The Chinese stencilled religious silks and manuscripts as early as the year 618. The Japanese stencilled religious images and scenes which were difficult to distinguish from painting. Gold stencilling was done by them in the fourteenth century. The English stencilled interiors of churches in the thirteenth century. Stencilling came into general use in England about the fifteenth century. Here again we find it used mainly for religious decoration in the churches. The stencil was used for playing cards during the fifteenth century in Germany Spain, Italy and France. Therefore, our stencils on tin and furniture are merely a new field which the English furniture makers developed to make gold decorated furniture and tin available at low prices to the general public.
In 1636, Japan closed her doors to all but the Dutch traders. The Portuguese and Dutch East India Company brought beautiful decorated and lacquered ware to Europe and thus a demand for these luxuries was created among the wealthy people. The Dutch, being clever merchants, copied the technique as closely as possible and sold their wares throughout Europe. The lavish use of gold leaf, scenes, and delicate penwork became known as Japanning.
In 1664, just about twenty years before William and Mary came to England, the first mill for rolling sheet iron was erected in Pontypool, Wales. The invention of tin plating speedily followed. The Dutch journeymen, china painters, and japanners
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flocked to Pontypool and painted their beautiful designs on a coal varnish. As new shops were set up around England and in France, these journeymen travelled from place to place spreading their designs. We find very similar patterns on the tin, glass and china of that period.
The Lace-edge tray, made in 1730, is probably the earliest type of decorated tray we have. It was no doubt inspired by the lace edge used extensively in silver and china production. The tin is lighter and finer in texture than tinned iron. Lace edge trays were round, oval and rectangular in shape. Frequently, there is there is a hole in the center of the round trays, which leads us to believe that the tray was put on a wheel, while the fine edge cuttings were made with a punch. Evidence of the Adam influence is shown in the use of the central design, surrounded by small scatter sprays, a fine tortoise-shell background, a gold leaf border on the extreme edge of the floor of the tray - these are all typical characteristics of the Lace-edge tray. Paul Revere imported the trays to Boston in 1785 and they are commonly known as Revere trays in New England.
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