Hello Henri I have been pondering your question, partly because I wonder why you ask it and partly because the replies to date may not fully answer it? It begs another question that would ideally be answered first. Who decided the Texian Campaigne china series was intended to depict the Mexican-American War 1846-1848, rather than Texas War of Independence 1835-1836, because it was certainly not James Beech. Once we had the "wrong" war then by definition any attempt to identify the battles was doomed. Early writers said little about the china series Texian Campaigne, although JB whilst unidentified was recognised as the maker. For example Hudson Moore wrote that JB made a single design of small merit, meaning Texian Campaigne. Laidacker was the first to point towards A Shaw as the maker and start edging JB out of the frame. Then Larsen really went to town, deciding that JB was the designer and Shaw the maker and focusing solely on the Mexican-American War and may have been influenced initially by an article in The Magazine Antiques June 1926 which stated that the source picture for one of the china views was a named lithograph by Nathaniel Currier. She quotes this as a source, so is this what confirmed the subject as the Mexican-American War? Larsen mentions lithographs by Currier and others of the Mexican-American War with similarities to the scenes on the china. Unwittingly, Larsen appears to have started the "spot the Currier engraving" competition and collectors found other engravings with hints and similarities and more battle names came to be applied to specific scenes. Then in Historical Staffordshire by the Armans these battle names, which by now I believe were in common use, were applied as identification to particular scenes. Despite the Armans warning that "there is much confusion concerning this series" and stating "We are using the names of Battles produced by the Currier and Ives firm, because they bear a faint (the word faint was in bold) resemblance to the views on the china" the die was cast. Once something has appeared in print it must be true! Having said all that the actual scenes on the china look very non-specific to me. I doubt that they were ever intended to depict real events, otherwise the name of the scene or battle would have been included in the backstamp? To my eye the places and the armies could be American, Mexican or virtually anywhere in Europe. I am no military historian, but a few of the soldiers could even be British Guards? So what were the source prints the engraver used for Texian Campaigne, as it has already been pointed out that the scenes are similar to other military series on china. I have a copy of A Geographical and Historical View of Texas with a detailed account of the Texan Revolution and War by Hon. L.T. Pease published Hartford 1837 and there are two named enrgavings one of the Battle of Jacinto and another of the Battle of the Alamo. They are very similar in style to the Texian Campaigne scenes, but neither is an exact match for any scene listed currently in the Database. No artist, engraver or publisher is given credit in the book for these engravings and one wonders if there were more in the series? Regards Andrew
Thank you for your generous response. Besides being an avid collector of Texian, I am giving a talk in November on Texian. I am trying to collect as much information about the design and its misinformation. Is there a possibility of getting images of the two battle scenes you mentioned? There are two of the books available but the price is $4000. I would most like to find a time line of the naming of the battles and also the source or the engravings. Thank you again for your information.
Re: Texian Campaigne Titles
Posted by David Hoexter TCC Web Admin. on June 22, 2013, 6:37 pm, in reply to "Texian Campaigne Titles"
Another source of information is an article carried in the TCC Bulletin, which actually is available for free download from our website:
The series, say the early references, (erroneously) depicts romanticized views of the United States' victory in the Mexican-American War, so the names later historians (like Arman) used were from that conflict, but that would not appear possible because of the dates the 3 potters were in business. But the titles are from that conflict. It is more likely that the scenes depict the Texas Revolution, when Texas broke away from Mexico. There is a fairly good history of the series at the KEY entry in the TCC database ("Texian Campaigne" #02 by James Beech). Members have access to that database and non members can purchase a 24 hour access.
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