San Francisco Ceramic Circle Illustrated Lecture 

Michael Sack, Collector, Author and member of the SFCC

SFCC lectures are complimentary for Museum visitors

This lecture is based on many years of collecting and researching exotic Indian scenes depicted on English transferware by SFCC member Michael Sack and is the subject of his recently published book. Details and order forms ( $45/copy + applicable sales tax ) for his book India on Transferware are available to download by using this link

About the talk:

The British public’s romantic notion of exotic places was stimulated by the publication between 1795 and around 1833 of several books containing prints by artists who created images of far-away places to which they had traveled, one of which was India. Since there was no effective copyright law until 1842, potters were free to copy from these illustrations and began to incorporate portions of them into the patterns on transfer-printed ceramics. We will hear about these ceramics and their manufacture, the artists who created the prints, and the books in which the prints were published. The ceramics and their source prints will be shown and compared.

About the speaker:

Michael Sack, a long-time member of the San Francisco Ceramic Circle and current treasurer, has spoken to us before about exotic scenes on transferware, although his talk this time will deal exclusively with Indian scenes. Michael is a native of Jacksonville, Florida and a graduate of Cornell University. In real life a certified public accountant practicing in San Francisco since 1967, Michael has spent much of his non-working time collecting early 19th century ceramics and lecturing about them. In December 2009 he published “India on Transferware”, a 234-page book which includes photos of both the patterns and the source prints from which they were derived for every known scene of India on transfer-printed ceramics.

Next lectures:

Sunday, February 21, 2010 “Of Fire & Clay: 2,000 Years of Ceramics in the American Southwest”
Russell Hartman, Senior Collections Manager, Department of Anthropology, California Academy of Sciences

Sunday, March 21, 2010 “The Evolution of an Art Form: the French Chocolatière”
Suzanne Perkins - Gordon, Author and Member of the SFCC and CIETA

Sunday, April 11, 1.30 PM. Reinventing Porcelain: Celebrating the Meissen Manufactory’s Tricentennial.
Malcolm Gutter, Collector, Author and member of the SFCC.
Note: this lecture will be presented at SFO Airport, International Terminal Museum at 1.30 PM.