Glidden Pottery’s Circus and Menagerie patterns sit slightly apart from the company’s better-known modern serving pieces, but they are very much part of the same mid-century design world. Glidden, based in Alfred, New York, was known for useful stoneware forms with matte glazes, hand decoration, and a studio-adjacent quality that kept the work from feeling fully industrial. The animal patterns designed by Ernest Sohn bring that same approach into a more graphic and playful register.

Sohn was a German-born designer who came to the United States in the 1930s and built a career around useful decorative objects for the modern home. He designed for companies including Glidden and Red Wing before developing Ernest Sohn Creations, a line associated with serving pieces, barware, lazy Susans, candlesticks, and other domestic accessories. His work was not always high modernism; it was often more social than architectural, focused on objects for tables, parties, drinks, snacks, and display.

The distinction between Circus and Menagerie is sometimes muddy in listings and collector references, since both involve animals and both are associated with Sohn’s hand-drawn style. In general, Circus has more of a performance or big-top feeling, while Menagerie focuses on individual animals. The small square canape plates are probably the most familiar format, but the designs also appear on a variety of dinnerware and serving pieces.

What makes these patterns work is the relationship between the drawing and the object. Sohn was designing for the table, and the animals sit comfortably within Glidden’s compact, modern shapes. They fill the space without overloading it, and they make sense as pieces meant for snacks, drinks, parties, and informal entertaining.

They belong to the world of mid-century canapes, cocktail trays, bridge snacks, patio entertaining, and small serving pieces that were meant to be used casually but still noticed. They added a little wit to the table without abandoning good design.

Glidden’s production also gives the pieces some of their appeal. The forms were repeatable, but the decoration retained the slight variation of handwork. Line weight, placement, and color can shift from one example to another, keeping the pieces from feeling flat or mechanical, especially with designs that depend so much on personality.

The Circus and Menagerie patterns show a smart side of postwar American tableware: modern forms, useful serving pieces, and decoration that was casual without being careless. Sohn’s designs show how mid-century ceramics could be modern, functional, and funny at the same time.

Circus Patterns

Menagerie Patterns