‘A Most Formidable Assembly’: The Katz Collection of English Porcelain at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Thomas Michie

Between 1954 and 1988, Jessie and Sigmund Katz of Covington, Louisiana, donated first to the Rhode Island School of Design and subsequently to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, a vast collection of early English porcelain that is widely regarded as one the finest ever assembled. Despite the fame of the collection, little is known about the Katzes themselves, their criteria for collecting, or their connections to museums in Providence and Boston. This lecture presents the story of the Katzes and their goal, to form “the most formidable assembly of English porcelain dating 1745-55 extant.”

Haughton International Seminar 2019 at The British Academy