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...