A ceramic glazed water pitcher. This is a very fine and rare water pitcher from the Princeton University Key & Seal Club. It has a stylish Art Deco form with the hand painted Key & Seal logo in black, and orange and black pin stripe accents. It is a heavy, well made piece of quality porcelain that is in pristine condition, both inside and out.

The Key & Seal Club was one of a small number of private, member only dining clubs part of Princeton University during the early part of the twentieth century. The Key & Seal Club shuttered over a half century ago as life on and off campus changed.

It was made by the Shenango China Company of New Castle, Pa., U.S.A. It is signed on the base of the jug with the fabulous full color Shenango Indian potter logo. This mark was in use from the 1930s through to 1948. As can be imagined, this is a very rare piece, with very few being made in the first place, and even fewer of them surviving the daily use nearly one hundred years ago. It is a handsome pitcher in its own right. Anyone with any interest in the University's history, or an alumn, this is a fantastic piece of its history.

The below is an extract from the Princetonian Museum website outlining some of the history of the club:

Key & Seal was founded in 1904 and started its existence in the Carroll House, a handsome three- story clapboard building on Nassau Street. Once again, an eating club took over a structure designed for domestic use and transformed it for its own purposes. The building was therefore not designed to project, through architectural style, a particular institutional image, but rather was representative of late 19th-century domestic architecture in Princeton Borough.

As early as 1910, Key & Seal was endeavoring to move to Prospect Avenue, to the empty lot just east of Charter Club. The first proposal is known through the Class of 1911 Bric-a-Brac (1909-10), which reproduced a drawing of a Tuscan- style villa. This structure bears a strong resemblance to Raleigh Gildersleeve's Elm Club of 1900, an Italianate Revival design.

The next proposal, which was reproduced in the Class of 1914 Bric, was a far more compact and contained structure that drew on Colonial and Greek Revival models. The entrance incorporates pairs of tall Corinthian- style pilasters and a large pediment that breaks through the roof's balustrade. Although the choice of wood speaks to economy in materials, this is an elegant, refined design.

What was actually built, however, was a much simplified version of this design, on a domestic scale. It discarded the pilasters and pediment and much of the ornamentation that marked the previous version. The first photograph of this structure appeared in the Class of 1915 Bric- a- Brac; the following year, the Bric showed a side view of the clubhouse, which reveals an extensive porch to the rear and a round room projecting to the east. This picture also captured the newly completed Charter Club. 

In the early 1920s, Key & Seal began the process of building a new clubhouse that would be more in keeping with the stone and brick structures that now lined Prospect Avenue. The first proposal was submitted by D.R. Everson, and was reproduced in the Class of 1924 Bric. This design, with its arched entrance and oriel windows, is instantly recognizable as being in the Collegiate Gothic tradition. Once again, however, the initial design was discarded in favor of a later proposal.

In 1925, Key & Seal commissioned Walter H. Jackson of New York to design a new brick clubhouse in the Collegiate Gothic style. Jackson delivered a successful design whose exterior blended well with the other clubs, while the interiors had a comfortable, intimate feel. Key & Seal's front elevation is dominated by three large arched windows that overlook the entrance porch. A polygonal dormer over the center of these arches helps balance the off- center door, which stands to the left of the arches as you enter. The two- story bay window on the west side of the facade, which echoes the protruding eastern wing of the building, also helps the overall balance of masses and voids.

Key & Seal folded in 1968. The University acquired the building and renovated it extensively before opening it as Stevenson Hall, a university- operated upperclass dining facility.