The Hudson State Vase collection

Now on view

View the work in the exhibition on our online collection database here.

These works include rare and impressive Weller Pottery Company vases likely created during the 1920s and referred to as Weller Hudson (State) Vases.

The Weller Hudson line, which was first introduced at the pottery in the fall of 1917, became one of its most popular and successful lines. Decorators including Mae Timberlake, Hester Pillsbury, and Sarah Reid McLaughlin painted the exterior of each vase using thick applications of pigment and clay known as slip, which created a rich and dynamic scene with almost three-dimensional qualities.

The ZMA’s collection includes vases decorated with the state flowers of Arizona, Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, and Vermont.

While specific historical references to the Weller Hudson State Vases have not yet been uncovered, twenty-seven vases have been identified. Each one signed by the decorator and its state identified on the vessel.

It remains unclear why these rare and unique vases were created but new scholarship by Weller collectors in the publication Weller Pottery—A Clearer Vision, suggests they may commemorate a late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century campaign by states to select state trees and flowers.

View the exhibition Weller Hudson State Vases From the Permanent Collection now through 2026.

Image Above: Weller Pottery Company, Hudson State Vase, Tennessee, decorated by Hester Pillsbury, circa 1920, earthenware. Gift of Mr. Allan Wunsch.