The view on this plate is loosely based on View of the High Falls at Trenton, an 1835 engraving by the New York based artist W.J. Bennett (inv. no. 1946.9.1934). The falls at the end of West Canada Creek, with their renowned limestone formations, were a popular tourist destination for those willing to travel the two or three hours by horse and carriage from Utica, New York. The many smartly dressed visitors that populate Bennett’s landscape, however, are here reduced to three barely-discernible figures at the top of the overhanging rock, and the landscape itself is significantly contracted and altered to fit the smaller surface of the plate.

Views such as this were popular with English ceramic producers who exported wares to America. The seashell border was one of Enoch Wood and Sons’ stock designs. It was transferred onto the plate in sections printed on paper and could be adjusted to pieces of varying size.