{"title":"Pioneers \u0026 Explorers","description":"\u003cp\u003eThey went first, and mostly without an audience. Orville Wright twelve seconds above the sand at Kitty Hawk, the shutter pressed by a man from the lifesaving station who had never handled a camera before. Melli Beese, licence number 115, the first German woman to earn one. Antoine Poidebard leaning out of a biplane over the Syrian steppe to photograph Roman roads that could not be seen from the ground. Anna Atkins laying ferns on light-sensitive paper in the 1840s and producing the first book illustrated with photographs.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNone of them knew it would work. That is the whole of what they share — not courage, which is awarded afterwards, but a willingness to be first and possibly wrong.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEach listing names the source, the holding institution and the rights status. Fine porcelain, 10 oz, dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"alfred-stieglitz-winter-fifth-avenue-mug","title":"Alfred Stieglitz: Winter, Fifth Avenue, 1893 – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAlfred Stieglitz\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eWinter, Fifth Avenue\u003c\/em\u003e, 1893\u003cbr\u003ephotogravure from the original negative\u003cbr\u003ePublic collection\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003eOpen-access image released by the museum under CC0\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlfred Stieglitz made \u003cem\u003eWinter, Fifth Avenue\u003c\/em\u003e in 1893 during a blizzard that effectively emptied the streets of New York — standing in the snow for three hours waiting for the right moment, a patience that was rewarded with one of the defining images of nineteenth-century photography. The photograph shows a horse-drawn carriage emerging from a veil of falling snow on a deserted Fifth Avenue, the city behind it dissolved into grey. It was the image that established Stieglitz's reputation and helped make the argument — then far from settled — that photography could be a fine art.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eStieglitz (1864–1946) would go on to become the most significant figure in American art photography of the early twentieth century, founding the Photo-Secession movement, editing the journal \u003cem\u003eCamera Notes\u003c\/em\u003e and later \u003cem\u003eCamera Work\u003c\/em\u003e, and running the gallery 291, where he showed Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso, and Rodin to American audiences for the first time. \u003cem\u003eWinter, Fifth Avenue\u003c\/em\u003e precedes all of this, but contains its essential argument: that a photograph, made with sufficient attention and intention, can be a work of art.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlfred Stieglitz, \u003cem\u003eWinter—Fifth Avenue\u003c\/em\u003e, 1893; photogravure from the original negative, published in \u003cem\u003eCamera Work\u003c\/em\u003e No. 12, October 1905. Open-access image released by the museum under CC0.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Fine Porcelain — 10 oz","offer_id":56856454857035,"sku":"459b6d29-6f3b-4eec-b029-0b3ff569cc9c","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/Stieglitz_CameraWork_Mug_front.jpg?v=1788040023"},{"product_id":"kuesnachter-horn-arnold-heim-mug","title":"Arnold Heim: Küsnachter Horn, 1902 – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eArnold Heim\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eKüsnachter Horn\u003c\/em\u003e, 1902\u003cbr\u003e7.9 × 10.9 cm\u003cbr\u003eETH-Bibliothek Zürich, Bildarchiv, Hs_0494b-0004-014-AL\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwo figures stand on the winter shingle at the Küsnachter Horn, the low promontory on the Küsnacht shore of Lake Zurich; behind them the screw steamer \u003cem\u003eGoldbach\u003c\/em\u003e crosses the lake under a plume of smoke. The date is 5 January 1902. The photographer was nineteen years old, and his own caption is a single word: Küsnacht.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eArnold Heim (1882–1965) was a Swiss geologist who inherited both the discipline and the passion for Alpine fieldwork from his father, Albert Heim — one of the founders of modern Alpine geology. He studied at ETH Zurich and went on to make significant contributions to the understanding of tectonic structures in the Swiss Alps, later extending his research to geological surveys in China and to comparative studies of the Alps and the Himalayas. His family background was exceptional: his mother, Marie Heim-Vögtlin, was the first woman in Switzerland to practise medicine. The original of this picture is a collodion print, 7.9 × 10.9 cm, mounted on card — an early sheet from a photographic record he would go on keeping for six decades of fieldwork.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eArnold Heim, \u003cem\u003eAm Küsnachterhorn\u003c\/em\u003e, 5 January 1902, collodion print mounted on card, 7.9 × 10.9 cm. ETH-Bibliothek Zürich, Bildarchiv, Hs_0494b-0004-014-AL. Licensed under \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003eCC BY-SA 4.0\u003c\/a\u003e. \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/doi.org\/10.3932\/ethz-a-001200128\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003edoi.org\/10.3932\/ethz-a-001200128\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Fine Porcelain — 10 oz","offer_id":57723588444491,"sku":"5ff261c5-f870-471f-bf76-9ec222270892","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/Heim_Mug_front_v4.jpg?v=1787201773"},{"product_id":"anna-atkins-cyanotype-botany-mug","title":"Anna Atkins: Cyanotype Ferns, 1840s – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAnna Atkins\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eCyanotype Ferns, 1840s\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePublic collection\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003ePublic domain\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eA fern laid straight onto sensitised paper and left in the sun. No camera, no lens: white fronds standing against the deep Prussian blue of the cyanotype ground, each leaflet resolved with a clarity no hand-drawn illustration could match. The sheet is from the 1840s and is now in a public collection in Washington, D.C.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnna Atkins (1799–1871) was a British botanist who in 1843 produced what is widely recognised as the first photographically illustrated book: \u003cem\u003ePhotographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions\u003c\/em\u003e, issued in self-published fascicles over the following decade. She had learned the cyanotype process — a photosensitive technique using iron salts — directly from its inventor, Sir John Herschel, who communicated it the previous year, and she applied it not as a novelty but as a scientific instrument: specimens placed directly onto coated paper and exposed to sunlight, yielding silhouettes of extraordinary precision. Atkins understood that photography and natural history were not in competition but in alliance, and her work stands at the intersection of Victorian science, botanical illustration and the new visual art of photography in its first decade.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnna Atkins, \u003cem\u003eFerns. Specimen of Cyanotype\u003c\/em\u003e, 1840s. Public domain.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Fine Porcelain — 10 oz","offer_id":56856454267211,"sku":"cde77fa9-35cd-4bc6-883f-e805b326d281","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/Atkins_Mug_front_v3.jpg?v=1787130693"},{"product_id":"frederic-remington-broncho-buster-mug","title":"Frederic Remington: The Broncho Buster, 1895 – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFrederic Remington\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Broncho Buster\u003c\/em\u003e, 1895\u003cbr\u003eBronze, 81.9 × 69.2 × 38.1 cm\u003cbr\u003ePublic collection\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003eOpen Access, public domain\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAmerica 250 · Jubilee Edition\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/Gemini_Generated_Image_5999r55999r55999_4a4d9d37-9593-4186-9fb3-a89fdfd98dfe.jpg?v=1783343892\" alt=\"America 250 · Jubilee Edition\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrederic Remington (1861–1909) was twenty-five years old when he first travelled to the American West, and the experience transformed him. He returned repeatedly over the following two decades, working as a painter, illustrator, and — in the final years of his career — sculptor, to record a way of life he sensed was disappearing. \u003cem\u003eThe Broncho Buster\u003c\/em\u003e, modelled in 1895, was his first bronze and remains his most celebrated work: a cowboy on a rearing horse, the rider leaning back against the animal's momentum, hat raised, the composition spiralling upward in a controlled explosion of energy. Remington solved the considerable technical challenge of balancing the bronze on two rear hooves by concentrating weight at the base and using the horse's tail as a third point of support.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe sculpture entered a public collection in New York and has since been cast in numerous editions; copies have occupied the Oval Office of the White House under several administrations, lending it a peculiar double life as both fine art and political symbol. For Remington, the work was personal — an act of preservation as much as invention, made at the moment when the frontier he had documented was being absorbed into national mythology. The image reproduced here — bold, kinetic, resolved in silhouette — captures the bronze as it was meant to be seen: from below, against the sky.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis edition is released to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States. The Broncho Buster is one of the defining images of American identity — a nation that mythologised its own frontier almost as it lived it. At 250, that myth is still very much alive. The America 250 ribbon on this mug is a small acknowledgment of that moment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eRead the full story: \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/stories\/the-last-cast\"\u003eThe Last Cast\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrederic Remington, \u003cem\u003eThe Broncho Buster\u003c\/em\u003e, modelled 1895, revised 1909; this cast by November 1910. Bronze, 32¼ × 27¼ × 15 in. (81.9 × 69.2 × 38.1 cm). Open Access, public domain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Fine Porcelain — 10 oz","offer_id":57723537686859,"sku":"0da90804-b76a-400f-aa8f-f715b9c80d74","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/Remington_Mug_front_v3.jpg?v=1787138229"},{"product_id":"melli-beese-aviatress-mug","title":"Melli Beese, Germany's First Aviatress, 1911 – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eMelli Beese, Germany's First Aviatress\u003c\/em\u003e, 1911\u003cbr\u003ePhotographer unrecorded\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003ePublic domain\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn 13 September 1911, her twenty-fifth birthday, Amelie \"Melli\" Beese passed her pilot's examination at the Johannisthal airfield near Berlin and became the first woman to hold a German aviator's licence, number 115. The achievement had not come easily: her male colleagues at the flight school sabotaged her aircraft on the day of her first attempt, and she was forced to repeat the test. She passed anyway, flying the required figure-eights and altitude trials with the composure that would mark her whole career. Within months she had founded her own flying school at Johannisthal and was training other pilots.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe photograph on this mug is a real-photo postcard from that airfield — printed from the negative onto photographic paper, not reproduced in ink. Two captions are scratched into the negative itself: \u003cem\u003eFlugplatz Johannisthal\u003c\/em\u003e across the top, and at the foot, in quotation marks, \u003cem\u003e„Frl. Beese auf Rumpler-Taube“\u003c\/em\u003e. The „Frl.“ dates the card. Beese married Charles Boutard on 25 January 1913, so the picture was made in 1911 or 1912, in the months around the licence she had taken on a machine of exactly this type. She sits at the wheel in flying helmet and light coat, one hand on the rim, looking straight out of the frame.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe same negative also went to the illustrated press. A second sheet in this collection, shown in the gallery, has it as a printed plate: a wider frame that keeps the whole leading edge of the wing and the distant hangar, set in a ruled border, captioned in Fraktur \u003cem\u003e„Fräulein Beese, die erste deutsche Flugzeugpilotin.“\u003c\/em\u003e and credited at the right to the \u003cem\u003eInternationale Illustrations-Agentur in Berlin\u003c\/em\u003e. Two things follow. The picture was agency work — syndicated, not made for one client — which is why the same frame appears both as a postcard and on a printed page. And the two captions on the card are no part of the photograph: the press plate carries neither of them. They were scratched in for the postcard edition, and the wider frame was trimmed away at the same time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe card had been in circulation and shows it: foxing in the sky, a soft crease along the upper edge, the small marks that a century of pockets and albums leaves behind. Those have been taken out for this edition. The tone, the photographic grain and both captions are as they are on the card.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eReal-photo postcard, \u003cem\u003e„Frl. Beese auf Rumpler-Taube“\u003c\/em\u003e, Flugplatz Johannisthal, Berlin, 1911–12. Photographer unrecorded; the negative was distributed by the Internationale Illustrations-Agentur in Berlin, whose credit stands under the press reproduction of the same frame. Both sheets from the collection of Dr. Walther Fuchs; the card scanned from the original at 600 dpi. Public domain.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Fine Porcelain — 10 oz","offer_id":56856453415243,"sku":"f51f572f-c70d-4f40-978b-9cf1ebaabfc5","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/Beese_Mug_front_v2_388af291-436b-48e8-81f9-343fb8ae6599.jpg?v=1787307761"},{"product_id":"george-washingtons-coffee-cup-society-of-the-cincinnati-1784","title":"George Washington's Coffee Cup, 1784 – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eGeorge Washington's Coffee Cup\u003c\/em\u003e, 1784\u003cbr\u003ePorcelain, H. 2½ in. (6.4 cm)\u003cbr\u003ePublic collection\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003ePublic domain\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAmerica 250 · Jubilee Edition\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/Gemini_Generated_Image_5999r55999r55999_4a4d9d37-9593-4186-9fb3-a89fdfd98dfe.jpg?v=1783343892\" alt=\"America 250 · Jubilee Edition\" style=\"max-width: 180px; width: 100%;\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e250 Years. One Cup.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn 4 July 2026 the United States turned 250. In a public collection in New York, a small porcelain coffee cup sits quietly — one of 302 pieces that George Washington ordered from China in 1786, used throughout his presidency, and kept at Mount Vernon until his death.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWashington drank coffee. His household accounts document it. He served guests — diplomats, officers, members of the new government — using this service, in New York, in Philadelphia, at Mount Vernon. The service included several coffee cups. He used them. Which one he held on any given morning, history does not record. But the cup now in a public collection is one of those cups. The same service. The same glaze. The same painted figure of Fame with her trumpet, the same Cincinnati eagle beneath her.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis re-edition reproduces the cup faithfully — same form, same decoration, same weight in the hand. Made to be used, not displayed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eRead the full story: \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/stories\/he-drank-from-this-cup\"\u003eHe Drank From This Cup\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCoffee Cup, Chinese, ca. 1784. Porcelain, H. 2½ in. (6.4 cm). Public domain.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Fine Porcelain — 10 oz","offer_id":57766951944523,"sku":"b44b651c-0f25-4f10-81d2-e9163c968702","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/3accdd5e-14ed-4617-8d7c-e6e87172013d.webp?v=1783342226"},{"product_id":"wright-brothers-first-flight-1903-porcelain-art-mug","title":"The Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, 1903 – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eThe Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk\u003c\/em\u003e, 1903\u003cbr\u003ePhotograph by John T, 18 × 12.5 cm\u003cbr\u003ePublic collection\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003ePublic domain\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eA machine of spruce, ash and muslin is a foot or two above the sand, and the man at the right is Wilbur, standing where his run ended. Orville is lying prone at the controls, on his stomach, hips in the cradle that warped the wings. Behind them the launch rail runs back across the beach — a single wooden track laid on the flat. It is 10:35 in the morning of 17 December 1903, at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and the wind is coming in cold off the Atlantic.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe photograph exists because Orville set it up before he flew. He put the camera on a tripod, aimed it at the spot where he expected the machine to leave the rail, and showed John T. Daniels of the Kill Devil Hill lifesaving station how and when to snap the shutter. Daniels had never seen a camera before. He squeezed the bulb at exactly the right moment and afterwards was not certain he had squeezed it at all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe flight lasted twelve seconds and covered 120 feet — shorter than the wingspan of an airliner. Three more followed that morning, each longer than the last; the fourth stayed up 59 seconds. Then a gust caught the machine on the ground and rolled it over, and it never flew again.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe negative is a glass dry plate, 18 by 12.5 centimetres. It stayed with the brothers and is held today with their own papers in a public collection in Washington.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe plate is damaged: a corner is broken away at the lower left and the emulsion is lost in two places along the bottom edge. Rather than paint them out, the mug carries a cropped frame that leaves them off the sheet. The picture gives up the far end of the launch rail and gains nothing that was not on the plate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe fourth product image shows four details at close range: Orville at the controls, Wilbur beside the wing, the launch rail on the sand, and the tools left standing where the run began.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst flight, 120 feet in 12 seconds, 10:35 a.m.; Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, 17 December 1903; dry-plate glass negative, 18 × 12.5 cm. Photograph by John T. Daniels, camera set by Orville Wright. Glass negatives from the Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright. Public domain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Fine Porcelain — 10 oz","offer_id":58236306325835,"sku":"f03461c1-4d70-4e1e-b48a-6fbe771bcd86","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/Wright_Mug_1_front_3000_014b09d5-437d-485c-b166-4c0672f29fab.jpg?v=1787548145"},{"product_id":"wilson-bentley-snowflake-1905-porcelain-art-mug","title":"Wilson Bentley: Snowflake, c. 1905 – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eWilson A. Bentley (1865-1931)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eSnowflake\u003c\/em\u003e, c. 1905\u003cbr\u003eGelatin silver printing-out-paper print, 10.1 x 7.6 cm\u003cbr\u003ePublic collection\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003ePublic domain\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eWilson Bentley was a farmer in Jericho, Vermont, in the snowbelt — about three metres of snow a year. His mother taught him at home. For his fifteenth birthday, in 1880, he was given a microscope. He spent the next years trying to draw what he saw in it, and failing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThen he connected a bellows camera to the microscope. In 1885, aged nineteen, he made the first photograph of a snow crystal that anyone had ever made.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe apparatus stood outdoors, because indoors the specimens melted. He waited in the cold, caught the falling flakes on a board, moved them under the lens with a feather, and exposed for a minute and a half. He did this for forty-six winters and photographed more than five thousand crystals. From that collection came the sentence everyone now repeats without knowing whose it was: no two are alike.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis one is a stellar dendrite, and it is as near to perfect as his plates come. Six arms of equal length, each carrying the same paired branches at the same angle, each branch ending in a small flat plate. At the centre, a hexagon the size of a pinhead. The crystal was on the ground for a few seconds and then gone; the photograph is all that is left of it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBentley cut the crystal out of the print and mounted it on dark card. That is why the field is a black disc on a pale ground. He did this five thousand times over forty-six winters, in an unheated shed behind the farmhouse.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis print was made around 1905 and came to a public collection in New York a century later. It is 10.1 by 7.6 centimetres — the size of a postcard.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-series\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the same series:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/products\/wilson-bentley-frost-1910-porcelain-art-mug\"\u003eFrost, c. 1910\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/wilson-bentley-dew-spider-web-1910-porcelain-art-mug\"\u003eDew on a Spider Web, c. 1910\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWilson A. Bentley (1865–1931), Snowflake, c. 1905. Gelatin silver printing-out-paper print, 10.1 × 7.6 cm. Public domain.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Fine Porcelain — 10 oz","offer_id":58236941402443,"sku":"e5924d2a-568e-4c02-bc63-b9c61fe2a485","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/BentleyMoMA_Mug_1_front_3000_e47a7620-cee2-425d-bc4b-aa0919e41416.jpg?v=1787593068"},{"product_id":"wilson-bentley-frost-1910-porcelain-art-mug","title":"Wilson Bentley: Frost, c. 1910 – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eWilson Bentley\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eFrost\u003c\/em\u003e, c. 1910\u003cbr\u003eGelatin silver print\u003cbr\u003ePublic collection\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003eOpen Access, CC0\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is not a snow crystal. It is frost — ice grown straight out of the air onto a cold surface. A snowflake falls once and is gone in seconds. Frost builds over hours, fern upon fern, until the whole pane is filled.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWilson Bentley was a farmer in Jericho, Vermont, in the snowbelt — about three metres of snow a year. In 1885, aged nineteen, he bolted a bellows camera to a microscope and made the first photograph of a snow crystal that anyone had ever made. He kept at it for forty-six winters and more than five thousand crystals.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSnow was not all he photographed. He turned the same apparatus on dew, on raindrops and on frost — the whole of what water does when it is left alone in cold air. These are the plates nobody quotes, and they are the ones that show him as a photographer rather than a collector.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis one is frost, made around 1910. The ferns run edge to edge: no centre, no border, no right way up. The pattern simply carries on past the frame, which is why it is printed here as a band that runs round the mug rather than as a picture on the front. Wherever you set the mug down, there is more of it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-series\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the same series:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/products\/wilson-bentley-snowflake-1905-porcelain-art-mug\"\u003eSnowflake, c. 1905\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/wilson-bentley-dew-spider-web-1910-porcelain-art-mug\"\u003eDew on a Spider Web, c. 1910\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWilson Alwyn Bentley (1865–1931), [Frost], c. 1910. Gelatin silver print. Open Access, CC0.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Fine Porcelain — 10 oz","offer_id":58240301531467,"sku":"3935b168-04b2-400e-921c-1296ec3a3b47","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/Frost_Mug_1_front_3000_fbd3800c-2be6-4104-b664-dd38a5952f3d.jpg?v=1787600683"},{"product_id":"wilson-bentley-dew-spider-web-1910-porcelain-art-mug","title":"Wilson Bentley: Dew on a Spider Web, c. 1910 – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eWilson Bentley\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eDew on a Spider Web\u003c\/em\u003e, c. 1910\u003cbr\u003eGelatin silver print, 7.6 × 9.2 cm\u003cbr\u003ePublic collection\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003eOpen Access, CC0\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eA spider's web, hung with dew, photographed at first light. Every drop is a lens. Bentley set his camera in front of it and made the water do what the snow crystals did: hold still long enough to be seen.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe was a farmer in Jericho, Vermont. In 1885, aged nineteen, he bolted a bellows camera to a microscope and made the first photograph of a snow crystal that anyone had ever made. That is what he is remembered for — five thousand crystals over forty-six winters, and the sentence everyone repeats without knowing whose it was: no two are alike.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSnow was only the winter half of it. The rest of the year he photographed dew, raindrops, frost — the whole of what water does when it is left alone. These are the plates nobody quotes, and they are the ones that show him as a photographer rather than a collector.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHere the geometry is not the water's but the spider's: the radial threads and the spiral, drawn out by an animal working in the dark, made visible by an animal working at dawn. The drops are strung along the silk at even intervals, the way beads are strung on a wire. That is surface tension, and it happens whether or not anyone is there with a camera.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe plate is printed as a band that runs right round the mug. There is no centre and no edge to this pattern; wherever you set the mug down, the web carries on.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-series\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the same series:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/products\/wilson-bentley-snowflake-1905-porcelain-art-mug\"\u003eSnowflake, c. 1905\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/wilson-bentley-frost-1910-porcelain-art-mug\"\u003eFrost, c. 1910\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWilson Alwyn Bentley (1865–1931), [Dew on a Spider Web], c. 1910. Gelatin silver print, 7.6 × 9.2 cm. Open Access, CC0.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Fine Porcelain — 10 oz","offer_id":58240505774411,"sku":"e4361da6-3e84-421c-b32f-b74799e52a70","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/Dew_Mug_1_front_3000_a3d9cd9c-4010-42b7-87e8-1c2ffca419ff.jpg?v=1787602375"},{"product_id":"r-rahl-auf-der-hohe","title":"R. Rahl: Auf der Höhe – Viennese Art Postcard – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eR. Rahl\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eAuf der Höhe – Viennese Art Postcard\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003eporcelain\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAuf der Höhe\u003c\/em\u003e — \"At the summit\" — shows a woman mountaineer standing on a dome of snow, one hand on her alpenstock, a red cap and a red scarf against the wind, the ranges lying far below. She is dressed for climbing, not for looking at mountains: a belted jacket and knickerbockers, wool stockings, nailed boots.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe sheet is a Viennese art postcard, published by the Eckhart Verlag at Fuhrmanngasse 18 in the Josefstadt, Vienna's eighth district, as number 1563. It is signed \u003cem\u003eR. Rahl\u003c\/em\u003e at lower left and titled in Fraktur at lower right. Cards like it were the small change of Viennese graphic art before the First World War: watercolours reproduced in colour and sold by the sheet.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat the picture records, besides a view, is a change in dress. On the mountain the skirt had given way to the knickerbocker suit — practical, and still contentious enough to be worth drawing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor the mug the paper ground has been taken out. Sky and snow are the white of the porcelain; only the figure, the blue shadow of the slope and the distant ranges remain. The original card is in the collection of Dr. Walther Fuchs, Küsnacht.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Fine Porcelain — 10 oz","offer_id":58245178917195,"sku":"1fd3acdf-526f-45fe-8eeb-a1918bf52620","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/22f7f4e1-239d-4354-8152-23d93e38fd8f.jpg?v=1787650756"},{"product_id":"william-henry-fox-talbot-articles-of-china-detail-1844-porcelain-art-mug","title":"William Henry Fox Talbot: Articles of China (Detail), 1844 – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eWilliam Henry Fox Talbot\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eArticles of China (Detail)\u003c\/em\u003e, 1844\u003cbr\u003eSalted paper print from a paper negative, 13.7 × 18.2 cm\u003cbr\u003ePublic collection\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003eCC0, public domain\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003ePorcelain photographed in 1843, printed on porcelain in 2026. Talbot set four shelves of china against a dark ground in the yard at Lacock Abbey, in full sun, because his paper needed it, and the sun is why the shadows fall the way they do.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe had a reason beyond the display. In \u003cem\u003eThe Pencil of Nature\u003c\/em\u003e, the book this plate belongs to, he wrote that a photograph of a collection would be evidence in court if the objects were ever stolen — «mute testimony», he called it. This is the first argument ever made in print for photography as a record rather than a picture.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is a salted paper print from a paper negative: no glass, no plate, no sharp edge. The image sits in the fibres of the sheet, which is why the porcelain glows rather than gleams, and why the cups on the third shelf have gone soft where the light struck them hardest.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis mug carries a detail, not the whole plate: one vertical section of the shelves, from the top row to the bottom. The complete photograph is shown in the last product image. The printable field on a mug is about nine centimetres high; the full sheet is a wide one, and it would shrink to a stamp, so the mug takes a column of it — four shelves, thirteen pieces of china, cups and saucers among them.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWilliam Henry Fox Talbot, \u003cem\u003eArticles of China\u003c\/em\u003e, 1843–44. Salted paper print from a paper negative, image 13.7 × 18.2 cm, sheet 18.7 × 22.4 cm. Plate III of \u003cem\u003eThe Pencil of Nature\u003c\/em\u003e. CC0, public domain.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58368425034059,"sku":"57310553-41d9-4235-bf87-005d164a80af","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/6178437e-59f7-47b9-b016-2447c6eb5527.webp?v=1789024240"},{"product_id":"the-switzerland-lands-in-cape-town-1927-swiss-aviation-history-mug","title":"The 'Switzerland' Lands in Cape Town, 1927 – Swiss Aviation History Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePhotographer unknown\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe seaplane «Switzerland» lands in Cape Town\u003c\/em\u003e, 21 February 1927\u003cbr\u003eGelatin silver photograph\u003cbr\u003ePublished as plate 197 in Mittelholzer, Gouzy, Heim, «Afrikaflug», Orell Füssli, Zurich 1927\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003ePublic domain\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn 21 February 1927 the Dornier Merkur CH-171 «Switzerland», flown by Walter Mittelholzer, touched down in Cape Town after 77 days and some 20,000 km from Lake Zurich — the first crossing of Africa by seaplane. The man standing on the nose, one hand on the propeller, is Oskar Schmid, grandfather of Tazzarte’s founder. The photograph runs right around the mug, so the aircraft appears full length.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePhotographer unknown, «The ‘Switzerland’ lands in Cape Town», 1927; gelatin silver photograph. Published as plate 197 in Walter Mittelholzer, René Gouzy and Arnold Heim, «Afrikaflug», Orell Füssli, Zurich 1927. Public domain.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58493102850379,"sku":"4e1b2020-bd44-4fc3-8396-63bbad892dd5","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/8488fff0-d3f7-491e-84c1-3c046490832e.webp?v=1789591608"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/collections\/kachel_pioneers_explorers.jpg?v=1787553421","url":"https:\/\/tazzarte.com\/collections\/pioneers-explorers.oembed?page=2","provider":"Tazzarte","version":"1.0","type":"link"}