Heidi Anniversary Mug: Two Goats with Pink Bows – Jessie Willcox Smith 1922

In 1922 the Philadelphia publisher David McKay brought out a new American edition of Heidi with pictures by Jessie Willcox Smith, then the most sought-after children's illustrator in the United States. Besides ten colour plates, Smith drew a small vignette for the head of each chapter. This is one of them: two goats in the high grass, heads lowered until their foreheads meet, each with a pink bow at the neck.

Johanna Spyri, the author of Heidi, was born on 12 June 1827. Her two-hundredth birthday in 2027 is the occasion for this anniversary edition: six vignettes from the 1922 book, each on a mug of its own.

Digitally restored from the 1922 edition. The printed page carries the dot screen of the halftone process; here the drawing has been rebuilt line by line and the tint laid in as clean, flat colour, so that Smith's pen work reads crisply on white porcelain.

Fine 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.

From the same series: Heidi Hugging a Goat, 1922 · Heidi with a Goat, 1922 · Heidi and Her Friend, 1922 · Heidi and Grandfather, 1922 · Heidi Picking Flowers, 1922

Jessie Willcox Smith, Two Goats with Pink Bows, 1922; chapter vignette, line drawing with one colour tint, from Johanna Spyri, Heidi (Philadelphia: David McKay, 1922). The New York Public Library, image ID 1699015. Public domain.

Selected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.