George L. Miller and Emily Brown
A Harry A. Eberhardt-Repaired Chinese Porcelain Saucer

Ceramics in America 2016

Full Article
Contents
  • Figure 1
    Figure 1

    Saucer, China, ca. 1790–1820. Porcelain. D. 5 3/4". (George L. Miller collection; photo, Robert Hunter.) The break can be seen in the lower right section of the plate.

  • Figure 2
    Figure 2

    The label on the back of the Chinese porcelain saucer illustrated in fig. 1.

  • Figure 3
    Figure 3

    Trade card, Brown & Eberhardt, Philadelphia, ca. 1892. (Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Collection 46, Winterthur Library.)

  • Figure 4
    Figure 4

    Invoices, Harry A. Eberhardt, Philadelphia, September 23, 1926. (Winterthur Archives, Winterthur Library.)

  • Figure 5
    Figure 5

    Workers repair broken china dishes with copper rivets, Samarkand, Uzbekistan, twentieth century. (photo, Maynard Owen Williams; National Geographic Stock: Vintage Collection / Granger, NYC—All rights reserved.)

  • Figure 6
    Figure 6

    Illustration of riveting process described by William R. Eberhardt and based on images found in ­Claudia S. M. Parsons and Frederick H. Curl, China Mending and Restoration (London: Faber and Faber, 1963), pp. 49, 52, 55. The illustration shows how: (A) the wire is bent double; (B) the first rivet leg is bent and hammered into position; (C) the second leg is measured; and (D) the second leg is formed. The remaining images show: (E) the completed rivet with a bowed shape; (F) the rivet in position at the holes; and (G) the final appearance of the rivet when viewed from the top and side.

  • Figure 7
    Figure 7

    Drill stock with solid metal flywheel. (Photo, William David Brown.)

  • Figure 8
    Figure 8

    Emily Brown holding the wooden crossbar wound in position around spindle to begin drilling movement. (Photo, William David Brown.)

  • Figure 9
    Figure 9

    Detail showing the rivets in the saucer illustrated in fig. 1. (Photo, Robert Hunter.)