Americana at STAIR: The Miller Family Collection
The Miller Family Collection in Americana at STAIR is a multi-generational selection of early American furniture, silver, and historical porcelain that reflects decades of connoisseurship and a passion for regional preservation.
The Miller Family Collection reflects a multi-generational family vision of Americana: early New England furniture, historical porcelain, and silver imbued with the quiet dignity of rural craftsmanship. It is the kind of collection that could only have come together over decades of connoisseurship within the Miller family passed through generations.
With deep family ties to some of the region’s most respected institutions and preservation movements, the Miller Family Collection stands as a testament to enduring values and generational preservation of American history and material culture. This collection is rich in provenance and personal family history, having stemmed from three generations of collectors, including the late Amy Bess Williams Miller (1912–2003), one of the most influential figures in 20th-century historic preservation and American scholarship. A founder of Hancock Shaker Village, she led the charge in the late 1950s to preserve the remaining buildings and collections of the Shaker community in Hancock, Massachusetts.
Highlights include Federal and Rhode Island Furniture, Tiffany & Co and Alan Stone Silver, Historical Staffordshire by Enoch Wood, Clews, Stevenson and Williams and Thomas Mayber celebrating the founding fathers and colonies.
Stevenson and Williams Staffordshire Plate with ‘Lafayette above Columbia College’ with inset ‘View of the Aqueduct Bridge at Little Falls’
Two hundred years ago, historical blue and white Staffordshire pottery was made in England to celebrate America as a growing and newly independent nation. The English took advantage of reopened trade borders following the War of 1812 to meet demand with easy and inexpensive to produce pottery wares. The peak of desire and production lasted through the 1820s and 1830s.
The dark blue printed scenes on the plates, platters, and other wares were mainly reproduced by the Staffordshire potteries from volumes of early American prints of geography, state capitals and important cities, historic buildings, and political figures. Transfer printing, a recent discovery, was the process used to apply these images which were engraved on copper plates. The process of transfer printing involved inking the engraved copper plate then transferring the design to paper which was pressed on to the wares, leaving behind the design which was fixed by firing.
There were about a dozen potters in the Staffordshire factories producing these wares. American pride drove the market as Americans could afford to purchase and collect large services. Two centuries later, these pieces depict places and sites which still exist today and celebrate our independence as the United States marks its 250th anniversary.
CATALOGUE ONLINE: Friday, January 16
GALLERY PREVIEW:
Friday, January 16: 9am – 5pm
Saturday, January 17: 11am – 5pm
Sunday, January 18: Closed
Monday, January 19: 9am – 5pm
Tuesday, January 20: 9am – 5pm
Wednesday, January 21: 9am – 5pm
Thursday, January 22: 9am – 5pm
Friday, January 23: 9am – 5pm
Saturday, January 24: 9am – 5pm
Sunday, January 25: Closed
Monday, January 26: 9am – 5pm
Tuesday, January 27: 9am – 5pm
Wednesday, January 28: 9am – 5pm