Dish Camp - 2013 - Held June 21-23 in Eastfield Village, New York

Disclaimer: All Photos Are Courtesy of Dish Camp, Don Carpentier and the Guests Who Own the Ceramics Photographed. They own any and all rights to use of the photos.

Harvard Professor Lura Woodside Watkins book, "Early New England Potters and Their Wares" reportedly took an estimated fifteen-years of research to complete. Her information came from various libraries; town and city records; direct conversations with family and friends of early potters - and actual archaeological digging on the sites of a number of New England's potters. "The excavation method proved most successful in showing what our New England potters were making at an early period, now almost unrepresented by surviving specimens."

"Dish Camp" held at Eastfield Village, New York's historic community brought together researchers, archaeologists, modern potters collectors, dealers and all the like - many of whom would have been the type of individual that Watkins may have spoken with to write her important book many decades ago.

The guest speaker lineup happened in this order on the specified days.

Friday June 21

- Angelika Kuettner, Assistant curator of ceramics at Colonial Williamsburg: Early repairs to ceramics.

- Louise Richardson, research associate at Strawberry Bank in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Spoils of War: A War of 1812 Privateer's Prize Ceramic Cargo, The auction of a British merchant vessel, loaded with British pottery & bound for Antigua when it was captured & brought into Portsmouth. Very important and rare original documents describe in detail the auction, buyers and the merchandise. 

- Justin Thomas, TV professional, antiques dealer, and ceramics blogger,: 18th century Charlestown redware: results from the Big Dig and connected areas

Saturday June 22

- Debbie Miller, National Park Service archaeologist: Privy site archaeology in center city Philadelphia with emphasis on dipped wares.

- Brenda Hornsby-Heindl, Chapel Hill Preservation, and operator of Liberty Stoneware: Researching, building, and firing a salt glaze stoneware kiln. We will also be treated to demonstrations of pottery making by Brenda.

- Jonathan Rickard, author and collector: Forty years of researching, collecting, and writing about dipped wares.

Sunday June 23

- Brandt Zipp, auctioneer and researcher, Crocker Farm, Inc., Sparks, Maryland: An 18th Century African American Freeman Potter in New York.

- Jeff Evans, Proprietor and auctioneer, Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates, Mount Crawford, Virginia: Ceramics at Auction in the Shenandoah Valley.
  
Only the audience can speak for my presentation, but the remaining I saw - were all extremely informative, engaging and a wonderful academic experience.

Justin Thomas Presentation - Newburyport, Ma

Topic: Charlestown, Ma Redware, Stoneware, Imports, Exports and Related Areas

Many of the guests and audience members brought their own fine examples of early ceramics to share, discuss and study.

The National Parks Services Philadelphia, Pennsylvania archaeologist - Debbie Miller brought these green ceramic examples with her. Both are considered short-lived enterprises from early nineteenth-century Philadelphia potters. She interesting said - the Philadelphia archaeological ceramic collection demonstrates a number of odd forms and styles that shows the great amount of experimentation that occurred among the potters of the early years of the nineteenth-century.

Green Ceramic Sherds

Both Possibly From Local Philadelphia, Pa Manufacturer

Early 19th Century

Portsmouth, New Hampshire historian, researcher and author- Louise Richardson discussed a fascinating story of a ships ceramic cargo that was auctioned off in early nineteenth-century Portsmouth. Her research has revealed a number of outstanding facts that include the actual original auction listing. She brought along a collection of ceramics that may be similar to the forms and makers that were aboard the ship. The ceramic terms used in the eighteenth-and-nineteenth-centuries do not always match up to the way we speak of similar forms today.

Collection of Early 19th Century English Ceramics

Brandt Zipp of Crocker Farm Auctions in Sparks, Maryland - talked about his research and future book that entails the story of an African-American potter in early Manhattan, New York. He has traced the lineage of one - Thomas Commeraw all the way back to the potter's African routes. It's an incredible amount of research he has undertaken in this project.

Connecticut author, collector, dealer and researcher, Jonathan Rickard spoke in detail of the history of English and American dipped wares within the early marketplace and today's collector environment.

North Carolona potter - Brenda Hornsby-Heindl gave an outstanding account of her introduction and entrance into the potters industry. She also spoke of her studies culminating around early American historic potters kilns. She even gave a demonstration of stoneware production on a potter's wheel on Sunday.

Accomplished New York potter, Don Carpentier displayed a new-found relation to an important group of nineteenth-century New Jersey stoneware potters. He displayed examples of their work, excavated material and a group of molds used by the nineteenth-century company Spode in England.

Examples of New Jersey Stoneware

Early 19th Century

New Jersey Stoneware Sherds and Kiln Furniture

Early 19th Century

Spode - England Ceramic Molds

19th Century

The potters who Don Carpentier has ties to include Asher Bisset (Old Bridge), Xeres Price (South Amboy) and Abial Price (South Amboy). The stoneware tradition among these potters ran from 1818 until about 1880 - and it extends through today with Don Carpentier's work.

Samuel Herrup brought along a possible stonware example made by Xeres Price's in South Amboy, New Jersey.

Possibly Xeres Price Stoneware Jar - South Amboy, NJ

Early to Mid 19th Century

Photo Courtesy: Samuel Herrup Antiques - Sheffield, Ma

Additional presenters included Jeffrey Evens, a well-established Virginia auctioneer who specializes in Virginia ceramics (ironically Jeffrey Evans set an auction record for an example of Virginia pottery the day preceding his lecture); the Colonial Williamsburg ceramics department and a demonstration of early traditional machine-turned ceramics by Don Carpentier.

The Eastfield Village community is very similar to Strawbery Banke in Portsmouth, New Hampshire or Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. The village is made up of a number of early historic properties that have all been relocated to essentially create a historic community. I walked around the grounds, entered many of the buildings and took a number of photos to share. Have a look:

 

Wonderful Early-Style Fence In Front of Pond at Entrance to the Village

Early Barn at Entrance of Eastfield Village, NY

 

Early Church Where All Presentations Were Held

Early Graveyard Outside Church

General Store and Antique Shop

Antique Shop View 1

Antique Shop View 2

Antique Shop View 3

Antique Shop View 4

Late 18th or Early 19th Century Tavern

Tavern View 1

Tavern View 2

Tavern View 3

Tavern View 4

Tavern View 5

Tavern View 6

Tavern View 7

Tavern View 8

 Tavern View 9

There were plenty of additional rooms to photograph in the tavern. I did not go upstairs - all these photos were from the first floor, but you likely get an understanding of the incredible furnishings it had. An eighteenth-century period dinner was served to all those in attendance on Saturday night in the tavern. The dinner was entirely created with period supplies in an open fireplace.

There were a number of buildings I did not include in today's report.

I highly recommend at least one Dish Camp experience for anyone with an academic background and involved with the early ceramics community. I feel extremely honored to have been asked to present. I can only speak for myself, but I feel the invitation is an accomplishment in my studies, research and future writing. Like I said, I am both humbled and honored to have had the opportunity to place my name with such a respected group of speakers (many of whom I look up to and only know through their publications) who have attended the international event over the past nineteen-years.

Much more to come...

Early to Mid 18th Century Redware of Philadelphia, Pa

Today's post will some-what serve as an abbreviated report of the longer article I plan to write on  "Dish Camp" held in New York later this week or next. The three-day event happened last weekend in Eastfield Village, New York.

Of the nine guest presenters - Debbie Miller, the National Parks Services' Philadelphia, Pennsylvania archaeologist, was included. She brought along a collection of fascinating ceramic archaeological artifacts from the Independence Park area of Philadelphia.

Upon walking into the church where the conference was held - I almost immediately saw this absolutely stunning and amazing redware coffee pot. It reminded me of a similar glazed jug that Massachusetts dealer and collector, Samuel Herrup kept within his private collection of redware for many years. Previous to Samuel Herrup's collection - it was a part of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Flack's collection that sold at Christies Auctions at an on-site sale under a tent in Pennsylvania in 1998. The jug sold to an undisclosed collector for an unspecified amount at this year's Connecticut Spring Antiques Show held at the Hartford Armory in March.

Take a careful look at both examples - one of which sits atop three legs and the other on a beautifully formed foot.

Philadelphia, Pa Redware Coffee Pot

Circa 1740-1760
Photo Courtesy: National Parks Services Philadelphia, Pa Archaeology Department

Philadelphia, Pa Redware Coffee Pot

Circa 1740-1760
Photo Courtesy: National Parks Services Philadelphia, Pa Archaeology Department 

Pennsylvania Redware Jug

Height: 6 Inches

Photo Courtesy: Samuel Herrup Antiques - Sheffield, Ma

 Pennsylvania Redware Jug

Height: 6 Inches

Photo Courtesy: Samuel Herrup Antiques - Sheffield, Ma

Debbie Miller said the coffee pot was found in an archaeology context of 1740 to 1760 at Franklin Park in Philadelphia. She personally felt the glaze was experimental imitating a similar glaze technique used by the English potter, Thomas Whieldon on flatware and related forms of the same period.

All Four Plates - Thomas Whieldon-style-ware, England

Mid 18th Century

Photos Courtesy: Skinner, Inc. - Boston

Franklin Park is near Benjamin Franklin's original home. The area may have served as a location for a potter's business of the period. It is not entirely known at the moment. Both the jug and coffee pot demonstrate a sponged and streaking brownish glaze over a cream body with a faint trace of gray. The color gray is especially unusual for any early American redware glazes. The name John Rogers as a potter was very loosely tossed out to the crowd for discussion. I am not using the early potter's name in anyway (yet) as an attribution in this report or on this website.

The ensuing redware form and glaze has emerged in eighteenth-century archaeological contexts in Charlestown, Massachusetts; Philadelphia and related areas. I believe this particular manufacturer to be a late eighteenth or early nineteenth-century English potter. The sponge decoration was most-popular in England.

 Late 18th or Early 19th Century Redware Bowl 

Origin Appears Debatable

I would like to know if any other examples with a similar glaze from this unidentified early Philadelphia potter exist. Isn't it possible? I have personally handled the jug and it was extremely accomplished in all aspects. It does seem experimental, but I feel the experiment went far beyond only a few pieces.

The coffee pot was briefly published in the 1980 book, "Handcraft to Industry: Philadelphia Ceramics in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century." Very little information was given about a possible attribution or remaining surviving examples. I feel the only people who realize a second example exists with a similar glaze - are those who are reading today's report and those who were in attendance at this year's event.

This website is kept private from all online search engines so  the information it provides is not available to just any online visitor.

There must be more examples out there with owners, that (a) don't know or even realize what they have, (b) have wrongly attributed the glaze to another country, or (c) are lost in-time and space at the moment. The sole reason very few examples exist from the Charlestown, Massachusetts potters is because the American Revolution destroyed the entire industry and area - this was not as much the case in Philadelphia.

Look in you cupboards, basements, attics...etc - and see what you have hidden. Unknown examples would probably most-likely turn up in the Philadelphia area. There will hopefully be more to report on with this early Philadelphia potter in-time. The idea of potential living examples from any eighteenth-century American potters is exciting. There is so-little evidence to have survived above ground and when examples are found or properly identified - it proves extremely encouraging. In this instance, there appears to be one example found below and another discovered above ground. I prefer much-more of the latter!

Much more to come...

Charles A. Lawrence - Ancient-Style Pottery Discovered

"The art connoisseurs who visit Cape Ann will find in Beverly one of the most attractive institutions that the country affords, in the works of the Beverly pottery. Here they will see accurate reproductions of all the best specimens of ancient pottery, literal copies of some of the finest pieces now in the old world art museums...Mr. Charles A. Lawrence established the present pottery in continuation of those previously here, and has worked out great improvements in the kind of work in many convenient and curious devices, attaining a large sale, and many visitors come to see and purchase the curious specimens of clay handiwork they made." (North Shore of Massachusetts Bay: An Illustrated Guide and History - Hill & Nevins - 2008)

Do you remember last week's report on the The Unexpected Roman Influence of the 19th Century American Utilitarian Redware Industry?
Report

I briefly wrote of the Beverly, Massachusetts potter, Charles Lawrence and the Grecian style creations he manufactured between 1875 and 1880. The ancient reproductions were reportedly only made on a per order basis - which means, if a customer did not place an order - additional examples were not produced. The product line mainly targeted the women of Boston through local advertising of the late 1870s.

I wonder how many examples were possibly produced in that five-year period - especially if the designs were not a part of everyday production? I assume there are not many surviving examples today.

The only example I knew of until recently, lives in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The Grecian-style pitcher is currently on display in the museum's American Wing in room 774.

Guess what?! I discovered a Beverly ancient jar that I feel is equal to if not better than the Metropolitan Museum of Art's example in a vintage shop in New Hampshire yesterday. I was told it was fresh-to-market from a New Hampshire home. They described the jar as an "old pot" and possibly from Italy in a Roman form and decoration. I will agree the jar is old, but its surely not Italian.

The Beverly pot is pictured below with a traditional nineteenth-century flower pot sitting to its right for an idea of its size.

Charles A. Lawrence Roman-Style Redware Jar - Beverly, Ma

Made Between 1875-1880
The Flower Pot Gives a Good Idea of the Jar's Size
Extremely Rare Design

Charles Lawrence Redware Pitcher - Beverly, Ma

Greek Revival Period

Circa 1875-1880

Photo Courtesy: Metropolitan Museum of Art - NYC 

Charles Lawrence Stamped the Bottom

Photo Courtesy: Metropolitan Museum of Art - NYC

The extremely rare example I found appears to have at one time displayed a paper label attached to its base - which is unlike the Metropolitan Museum of Art's example - that shows a stamp bearing Lawrence's name, company and city of production. It can be assumed that both stamps and paper labels were used on the Beverly examples.

Base Appears to Have Had a Paper Label at One Time

Wonderful Fish Decoration

Wonderful Leaf Decoration

The Jar or Vase Was Hand Turned

Below is a period advertisement that sites the production of old world Grecian style vases, urns, pitchers and probably other forms in Beverly - that very little is known of today. Harvard Professor Lura Woodside Watkins wrote extensively of New England's earliest potters in her mid-twentieth-century book, "Early New England Potters and Their Wares" and made no mention of any type of production of ancient pottery reproductions in Beverly. I assume its a result of the product line's limited production and rarity.

Early Beverly, Ma Pottery Advertisement

Includes Mention of Ancient Pottery

Charles Lawrence opened the doors of his Beverly pottery in 1866. He worked for roughly forty-years before the company closed in 1906. The most accomplished examples were all made before 1880 - where a number of utilitarian forms were decorated in an extremely colorful glaze. The post 1880 wares were much more basic and utilitarian in glaze and decoration.

Charles Lawrence Redware Pitcher - Beverly, Ma

 Circa 1870

Photo Courtesy: Samuel Herrup Antiques - Sheffield, Ma

I have a simple question for each of you. Do you know how Boston got its nickname, "Beantown?" I will tell you that it is tied to Charles Lawrence and his pottery.

Give up?!

Civil War soldiers returning home in 1890, "remarked to friends and families about the souvenir bean pot they got in Beantown." Lawrence was commissioned by a Civil War group to make bean pots for each soldier to keep as a memory of Boston. With that idea in mind - the nickname "Beantown" was born.

I wonder what would have happened to Boston's nickname if Lawrence had chosen to make souvenir flasks???

Or even - jugs? That name is already given to the pottery community of "Jugtown" North Carolina.

Charles Lawrence advertised in 1903 for the sale of, "Souvenir Bean Pots from the Battle of Gettysburg." It seems like he was attempting to capitalize in the final years of his company's operation with the success he likely found with the Civil War bean pots. The company's constant transformations were likely the result of constant changes in the American marketplace that made it nearly impossible for a utilitarian potter to compete in the second half of the nineteenth-century - and thus, why Lawrence kept attempting to transform his Beverly pottery.

In the latter years of operation, the Beverly company acted as a wholesale dealer of stoneware, Rockingham ware, yellow ware and drain pipes. However, the most prolific years and wares were those that predate 1880 and actually produced in Beverly.

For me personally - the Greek Revival pottery examples were made by a number of New England potters, but the forms made in Beverly were the most fascinating. They represent the only examples made by a utilitarian redware potter - all others examples were the products of future art potters.

The Beverly wares are probably my favorite of all eighteenth or nineteenth-century New England pottery. I constantly bounce back and forth between Charles Lawrence and William Pecker (Merrimacport, Ma) and at the moment, my preference is Lawrence. The Beverly wares used a glaze style like no other New England potter that I have seen. The surviving examples demonstrate a utilitarian use with a sense of art at the same time. Very few early American utilitarian potters achieved this feat.

A quick tease ahead -- I presented at Dish Camp in New York over the weekend. I will give a good look into what this event is all about later this week. It's a wonderful academic experience that all involved with the world of early ceramics should experience.

Much more to come...

The Unexpected Roman Influence of the 19th C. American Utilitarian Redware Industry

The change that occurred within the New England ceramic industry of the industrial revolution was dramatic. Many potters businesses failed - while few managed to adapt to the market's latest needs. The local redware industry all-but disappeared and it was replaced by cheaper, more durable and much-more cost-effective products.

The emergence of metal as a means of a utilitarian ware replaced many similar wares in a pottery form of the nineteenth-century. The sudden rise can be compared to plastic's introduction of the twentieth-century. Metal was nearly indestructible when compared to pottery. It lasted longer, became affordable and its durability was like no other material seen in the American utilitarian world before. It can be said the need for most common utilitarian redware forms was mostly gone.

However, the desire for more formal redware among the dining room setting was apparently still in high-demand and it was around 1870 when a shift in production happened.

The wares of the still-existing American utilitarian redware potters began to take on the life of a clay canvas - where their examples visually resembled art, but the form was still utilitarian. It is my belief that the potters of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia; Beverly, Massachusetts and Concord, New Hampshire were all at the head of this described movement. There were likely many others, but for the sake of this discussion - we will use these potters as examples.

Below is an example of utilitarian redware made in the Shenandoah Valley region of Virgina during the last quarter of the nineteenth-century. The form is what is expected of household forms, but notice the use of vibrant colors. It resembles a splash of art - a technique that would eventually evolve - the county over in the twentieth-century - adapting into the world of art pottery.

J. Eberly & Company Redware Pitcher - Shenadoah Valley: Strasburg, Virginia

Circa 1880

Photo Courtesy: Jeffrey S. Evans Auctions - Mount Crawford, Va

To Be Sold - June 22, 2103 

Interesting about the wares of Concord's potter - John Farmer Clark - a number slightly resembled urns or garden forms produced by the ancient Roman potters. Clark's glaze-use is no-where near comparable, but the form certainly does share comparisons.

John Farmer Clark Redware Urn - Millville: Concord, NH

Circa 1870

Resembles the Urns and Planters Made in Ancient Rome

A few years after John Farmer Clark began manufacturing these Roman-style wares - a number of highly accomplished potters began producing their own unique lines - in what can be described as a short lived Greek Revival period that happened in the latter years of the nineteenth-century.

In Chelsea, a potter by the name of Hugh Robertson  designed his own line of Greek pitchers and vases. Robertson is believed to have been the first of the Massachusetts potters to attempt such a production line.

Chelsea Keramic Redware Roman Style Vase or Pitcher - Chelsea, Ma

Circa 1872-1876

Fifteen miles north of Chelsea and a few years later, Charles Lawrence invented his own Greek line. The Charles Lawrence examples are likely the most rare of all - each was only made on a per order basis in Beverly. Lawrence marketed the opportunity to own such an example to the women of Boston by placing advertisements in local publications. Additionally, the utilitarian redware he produced of this same period resembled the decorative style and detail of the Shenandoah Valley redware pitcher shown above. Very little information is known of Lawrence's forms - so I hope you can respect my decision to not share. Dozens of forms were made, but today's collectors and dealers only acknowledge a few.

 

Charles Lawrence Redware Pitcher - Beverly, Ma

Greek Revival Period

Circa 1875-1880

Photo Courtesy: Metropolitan Museum of Art - NYC

 Charles Lawrence Stamped the Bottom

Photo Courtesy: Metropolitan Museum of Art - NYC 

I am curious to know if Lawrence was influenced by Robertson's creations? And if so - did he copy his style? The only difference between the two companies is Robertson produced his pitchers for sale - unlike Lawrence's wares which were only made on a per order basis. Was the "per-order" a marketing technique used by Lawrence in an attempt to compete with the Revere business? The examples shown are similar in both form and decorative style - and the only true difference is how they were sold. Both potters were extremely accomplished. I have handled examples made by both and they nearly mirror each other in all aspects.

In the 1890s, Newburyport potter, Thomas Nickerson traveled south to Boston - and actually made molds of the huge number of authentic Roman urns and vases the Museum of Fine Arts had laying around in what have been described as "piles." He sold these at his pottery company in Newburyport - that at the time concentrated on florist wares.

Merrimac Pottery Company Redware Urn or Planter - Newburyport, Ma

Greek Revival Period

Circa 1895

Hugh Robertson and Thomas Nickerson are also known for producing forms that resemble Japanese redware vases and Chinese forms that utilized a crackle-type glaze. Both potters are thought to have mastered each technique.

Hugh Robertson eventually moved on from Chelsea and created his well-known Dedham, Massachusetts pottery company of the twentieth-century. Dedham Pottery lasted successfully for decades producing fine table ware for the American marketplace.

John Farmer Clark died in 1895 and with him - so did the New Hampshire company.

Thomas Nickerson's, Merrimac Pottery Company changed gears in the early years of the twentieth-century before the business burned for good in 1908.

Charles Lawrence's Beverly company burned in the 1890s and was never rebuilt.

The 1870 to 1895 period was rather unprecedented within the world of utilitarian pottery. The industry's identity had disappeared. The use of utilitarian pottery saw a major decline. The potter's industry had never seen such a transformation like this before. Everything changed with the industrial revolution - and with it, an industry became lost. It took a solid twenty-years before the American utilitarian pottery world understood that it needed to properly adapt and with it - the art pottery movement of the Arts and Crafts Period was born in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

It can be argued that most American utilitarian potters fell out of the industry through death or lack of work by 1900 - but the potters industry ultimately transformed into what most describe today as the art pottery movement.

More to come...

John Farmer Clark Redware Urn Discovered at a Maine Flea Market

The local New England flea market scene has been extremely generous so far this year. Yesterday, my nine-year-old nephew and myself were at a flea market in Maine and we came across this redware jar mixed in with a bunch of household leftovers hidden on a quarter table. Yup - you didn't read that wrong - it only cost twenty-five-cents.

We arrived probably three hours after the flea market had already begun - so it was extremely surprising to see this urn having been  passed up by person after person for only five nickels - or two dimes and a nickel or even twenty-five pennies.

When I first glanced at the redware vase - I immediately knew it was something special. I picked it up instantly. I could clearly see how the vase had been stacked in a potter's kiln at one time, the finger markings on the interior indicated it had been hand turned and the crackling in the green glaze appeared early New England. The use of kiln furniture was even present on the base. The urn's weight felt correct. The clay, footed base and bottom all had the correct feel of an early example of American redware. Without hesitation - we purchased it - handing the flea market seller a dollar bill and receiving three quarters in return.

We were told the vase had been found locally in a Maine home after cleaning out its contents. All of the leftover and unwanted contents that were considered by the seller to have little value we brought to the flea market and sold for a quarter.

19th Century Redware Urn Found at a Flea Market in Maine
Maker: See Below

I had initially planned on doing some research within my library when I got to my Newburyport, Massachusetts home - but as quickly as I walked in the front door - the maker popped into my head. I remembered viewing a large collection of work from a New Hampshire maker not too long ago.

The New Hampshire Historical Society has a large collection of John Farmer Clark produced redware - which was mostly made during the second half of the nineteenth-century - in the Millville neighborhood of Concord, New Hampshire. I feel the example we found yesterday is arguably one of the finest forms produced by John Farmer Clark. The handle attachments or urn rings are extremely accomplished. The form and proportions are perfect. The glaze is beautiful. I have seen the many examples the historical society owns and I consider the form we found yesterday equal if not better than their suggested best.

John Farmer Clark Redware Feeder - Concord, NH

19th Century

Photo Courtesy: New Hampshire Historical Society

John Farmer Clark Redware Jar - Concord, NH

19th Century

Photo Courtesy: New Hampshire Historical Society

John Farmer Clark Redware Mug - Concord, NH

19th Century

Photo Courtesy: New Hampshire Historical Society

John Farmer Clark Redware Mug with Political Statement - Concord, NH

19th Century

Photo Courtesy: New Hampshire Historical Society

John Farmer Clark Redware Flower Pot - Concord, NH

19th Century

Photo Courtesy: New Hampshire Historical Society

John Farmer Clark was the grandson of the eighteenth century redware potter, Peter Clark - who began his career in Braintree, Massachusetts before relocating to Lyndeboro, New Hampshire. Peter Clark is arguably one of the most important New England potters from colonial days up through modern times.

Likely Peter Clark Large Redware Jar - Braintree, Ma

Late 18th Century

Peter Clark Redware Jar - Lyndeboro, NH

Late 18th or Early 19th Century

Photo Courtesy: New Hampshire Historical Society

It should be important to note - the use of incised decoration that Peter Clark used in both Braintree and Lyndeboro were likely a skill that Clark learned while training in Essex County, Massachusetts. Eighteenth-century Essex County is well-known for this type of decoration. Clark was born in Braintree, but his parents were from Essex County - where he received his training. It is not known which South Danvers, Danvers or Salem, Massachusetts shop Clark apprenticed under, but his work in both Braintree and Lyndeboro always demonstrated an Essex County influence.

Two of Clark's sons became potters - while working under him in New Hampshire. Daniel Clark and Daniel Clark II both trained in Lyndeboro before relocating to Concord, New Hampshire and beginning their own family shop.

Many of the New England redware rundles (form seen below) were made in the nineteenth-century Clark shop in Concord. For some unexplainable reason - the form was extremely popular in this part of New England.

Daniel Clark Redware Rundlet - Concord, NH

19th Century

Photo Courtesy: New Hampshire Historical Society

Redware Rundlet Dated "1839"

Photo Courtesy: New Hampshire Historical Society

John Farmer Clark took over his father's company (Daniel Clark II) when he passed away in 1863. His uncle, Daniel Clark died in 1849. He had been working under both family potters previous to that. The wares John Farmer Clark produced were less expected from a New Hampshire potter having many examples taken on a European-type influence. This influence is likely seen in the urn that my nephew and I found yesterday in Maine.

Among the notable potters who worked and trained in the Millville shop were Peter Flanders, Joseph Hazeltine and John Libby. Each are known for their accomplished work in New Hampshire - and additional to Flanders, Hazeltine and Libby - there families are also regarded as working in Millville. The New Hampshire Historical Society owns examples from each potter.

The Clark family redware business carried on for more than twenty-years under John Farmer Clark's direction before he suddenly died in 1885. With Clark's passing - the legend of three generations of Clark family master potters died with him. The Clark family pottery shop of New Hampshire is regarded as the most successful potter's business ever attempted in either eighteenth or nineteenth-century New Hampshire.

I don't feel the Clark's ever achieved that large business-model that was introduced with the Industrial Revolution, instead, they were a small shop working in a smaller area of New Hampshire that remained relevant in an ever-changing industry for more than a hundred years -- there is something to be said for that.

The wares each family member produced speaks for itself in skill, detail, creativity and accomplishment.

Needless to say, this is probably the best twenty-five cents either my nephew or myself have ever spent!

Much more to come...