Plate

Since its heyday in the nineteenth century, the steamboat has symbolized the Mississippi River's role as a conduit for commerce, design, and pleasure. Here a steamboat's architecture and cargo are faithfully delineated, from the broad gallery with spectators to the sugar barrels and cotton bales stowed below. A clever use of thumbprints in the wet enamel gives texture to the billowing smoke and clouds. The accomplished porcelain painter Rudolph Lux decorated many presentation sets with images of steamboats, like the Ruth, which plied the Mississippi from New Orleans to St. Louis.