An Interesting Mass Jug with Comparisons to the 17th & 18th C.English Potters

Willis Henry Auctions will be offering the Curry collection of early American redware on November 16th in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The collection was assembled over a lifetime. There are nice examples of Massachusetts and Maine redware included in the sale. The most fascinating for me is a yellow, orange and black redware pitcher or jug that was likely made by the early potters of southeastern Massachusetts. The jug resembles the characteristics seen at one time applied on pottery of a well-establish industry in England.

I feel the jug is a product of the eighteenth century, rather than the nineteenth century like many may suggest. The style and glaze are typical for wares produced in southeastern Massachusetts in the earliest years of the 1800s, but the form may suggest otherwise. The handle is unmistakable for the potters who worked along the Taunton River. They supplied much of the region with earthenware. They were probably the dominant potters who exported products into Rhode Island. These same potters probably exported into Connecticut, too.

18th or Early 19th Century Redware Pitcher Made in SE Massachusetts
Possibly Made Before 1775

To Be Sold November 16th

Photo Courtesy: Willis Henry Auctions - Marshfield, Ma

The form reminds me of a line of ceramics that was most popular with the English and American markets of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It was probably most popular in the American colonies by the mid 1700s. Similar jars to the form Willis Henry has for sale were manufactured in the Staffordshire region of England - some had black dots applied and fell under a term known as slipware - while others were simply glazed in a black and yellow color similar to the jar from the Curry collection. The jar photographed below from the Bennington Museum in Vermont is very-similar to the jar Willis Henry will be offering. It's almost unmistakable how similar both are. Could there be a familiar connection? I feel there is.

 (Top Right) Staffordshire, England Earthenware Jar Similar to that in the Curry Sale - 18th Century

(Bottom Left) Staffordshire, England Earthenware Cup - 18th Century

Photo Courtesy: Bennington Museum - Bennington, Vt

Variations of English Forms with Slip - 17th and 18th Century
(Top Middle) Similar Jar to that in the Curry Collection - Here Seen with Black Dots

Photo Courtesy: Colonial Williamsburg - Williamsburg, Va

Yellow Earthenware often related to the Staffordshire region of England was an extremely popular import into the American colonies of the eighteenth century. It has been excavated in major areas up and down the American seaboard - which indicates it must have been distributed throughout major ports of the entire eastern coast. Many merchants acted as agents selling such wares, but it was probably purchased directly at the docks by individuals who wished to sell such wares in both urban and rural environments as well. I have personally seen it strongly represented at the Faneuil Hall (Boston); Charlestown, Massachusetts; Salem, Massachusetts (Narbonne House); and Strawbery Banke (Portsmouth, NH) archaeological collections.

It appears whoever the potter was in southeastern Massachusetts attempted to copy the Staffordshire form. This was not an uncommon practice for colonial America. Similar imitation was seen in Philadelphia, New York City, Virginia, South Carolina and New England. Many potters are known to have carried their known crafts from the Old World to America. This idea is why so many forms of the eighteenth century resemble products of other countries. This is especially the case with the products seen in archaeological contexts in Philadelphia where a strong German, English and Dutch influence was seen. This may have been the case with the potter who made the jar from the Curry collection. Could that potter have had an English background? Or is it a coincidence that the forms and glazes are so similar?

I personally believe the jar is earlier than what some may realize based on the English form it certainly resembles. The American form may be nineteenth century, but there was much-less attempts at imitation after the American Revolution. When independence was won - many potters began producing their own lines of redware and stoneware in America. It was when the colonies were still under English rule that imitation of mostly German and English products were most seen. Independence allowed nineteenth century potters to branch off in directions they wished that eighteenth century potters often did not attempt.

It's interesting at the least to see the comparison of the jar from the Curry collection and the known Staffordshire styles. The glaze technique on the Curry pitcher appears to transcend into further areas of styles used by the potters of eighteenth and nineteenth century southeastern Massachusetts. Could the Curry jar be a representation of the glaze techniques used by these Massachusetts potters? I think its at least worth a consideration.

Early 19th Century SE Massachusetts Lidded Redware Jar

Photo Courtesy: Northeast Auctions - Portsmouth, NH

Much More to Come...