Mug, Decorative

From Mattatuck Museum

Enoch Wood and Sons (created by)
Mattatuck Historical Soc (owned by)

circa 1815 (Date manufactured/created)

transfer print with lustre

earthenware

4 3/4 in. H X 4 3/4 in. W X 3 1/2 in. D , 3 1/2 in base diameter Diameter Measurement Notes: overall with handle

Depicts Stephen Decatur. Dark cream color, pink lustre band around rim and on handle; painted in mulberry (under glaze) portrait. Stephen Decatur was the son of a naval officer and went to sea as a midshipman in 1798. He became a lieutenant the following year and served in the West Indies during the undeclared war with France (1798-1801). In 1804 Decatur made a daring raid on the port of Tripoli. He and his men boarded the frigate 'Philadelphia', burned it, and escaped under the fire of 141 guns. Decatur was rewarded for this exploit by being made a captain, which was then the highest rank in the navy. In the War of 1812, Decatur, commanding the frigate 'United States', captured the British frigate 'Macedonian'. Early in 1815 he was captured during a battle with four British ships. Decatur was killed in 1820 in a duel with James Barron, a naval officer who had been court-martialed and whose reinstatement as commodore Decatur opposed.

Museum Purchase, Acquisitions Fund, 1950.

Accession/ID Number X70.631