Early Yellow Bowl and Attribution

Shards from a redware bowl - similar to the one pictured below, have been unearthed in a few, rather ineresting archaeological sites within the Boston area. The attributions that have resulted are a bit foggy and as a result, there are many opinions of its maker.

Late 18th Century Redware Bowl

Origin Appears Debateable

This particular bowl, was discoverd while visting one of the many antique shops that are located on the New Hampshire seacoast. I purchased it when I first regularly began collecting redware in 2005. At the time, I didn't know much about it other than it being covered in a very interesting glaze. I still don't know much about its origin today. To be truthful, the glaze is unattractive and interesting at the same time.

I have never seen a similar example unharmed and in its entirety outside of the example I own. Lura Woodside Watkins pictures in her book "Early New England Potters and Their Wares" a shard that was discovered at the eighteenth century Daniel Bayley Pottery Company site in Newburyport, Massachusetts nearly a century ago. See figures 20 and 29 for an understanding of what I am referring to.

I believe based on this information, people have mistakenly suggested these bowls were made by the Bayley Family in Newburyport. Watkins makes no mention, assocation or attribution in her book that these bowls were made by the hands of a Bayley family member. She did leave people, including myself, guessing as to whether there were a possibly that these were made by a Bayley. It can be confusing. She leads the reader in one direction, but never makes a clear association other than the shards were found at the site.

A longtime New England collector correctly criticized this loosley pictured attribution to me recently. He told me Bayley did not make these bowls, instead - he felt the bowl was probably used in some way within the Bayley Family homestead or pottery shop and it happend to have been discovered among the Bayley shards.

More recently, my research directed me towards the nineteenth-century African Meeting House site in Boston. The following description was taken from AfroAmMuseum.org, which briefly describes the importance of this site on a global level. The site does date pre abolition and with that understanding, the site and what was happening at the time is fascinating.

"The African Meeting House on Beacon Hill was built in 1806 in what once was the heart of Boston's 19th century African American community. It is today a showcase of black community organization in the formative years of the new republic. The African Meeting House is the oldest black church edifice still standing in the United States."

Prior to 1805, African-Americans were accepted in white churches, but faced an unwelcomed discrimination that they likely could not defend themselves against. The meeting house became the centerpiece of Boston's African-American community that enabled Africans living in Boston to attend a church and live within a community of their own.

The large yellow and brown decorated shard pictured below, was found during the excavation of this site. It is a near exact match to the bowl pictured above.

Similar Yellow Shared as Bowl Above (Pictured Right)

A similar shard was found at the eighteenth-century site of Paul Revere. This site in particular is wonderful. Most people know the story of Paul Revere; Revere as a silversmith and his famous ride, yelling, "The Brisish are coming! The British ar coming!" For me, the idea of redware in the Revere household is an incredible understanding. Redware was a common utilitarian device in nearly every early American home - and from an archaeological standpoint, the idea of redware is a given on most sites. However, I view it differently. Redware found at the Paul Revere site excites me. The history that these shards likely saw and were a part of is amazing!

Similar Yellow Shared as Bowl Above (Pictured Left)

A similar bowl was recovered from a privy at the Three Cranes Tavern site in Charlestown. This example has been reassembled. The archaeological reports are attributing it to an unknown Philadelphia potter.

Bowl Unearthed in Charlestown

I have heard of these type bowls being atributed to the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company in Newburyport, an unknown Philadelphia potter, an unknown Canadian potter and even an unknown English potter. At the moment, it's a bit of a mystery to me who made these bowls. If I had to given an answer I would say they are all English made, but I am not positive. There is an arguement that could be made for each attribution. I will for now, believe what I want to believe until proven differently - and I want to believe these bowls were made in Philadelphia. That after all, is the most exciting eighteenth-century attribution of the group.

Regardless of all of this, these bowls appear to have been popular in the early American household. The story of who, what, where, when and how will be left for another day.

More research to come...