18th and 19th Century Raspberry and Cream Glazes Applied by American Utilitarian Red Earthenware Potters in the Northeast

A cream and raspberry colored glaze is not common by any means from eighteenth or nineteenth century American utilitarian potters; however the glaze has appeared in a variety of contexts throughout New England. The earliest use I can see, appears in colonial Charlestown, Massachusetts within a privy at the Three Cranes Tavern. The tavern was the center piece of Charlestown at one time. It was originally built for the town's founder, John Winthrop as a home and a Puritan meeting house before it burned at the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775. Five privies were associated with the tavern when it was dug in the 1980s and a crock was reassembled from the latest privy with a suggested discarded date of 1770. I am unaware of its manufacturer, but all indications suggest a local coastal Massachusetts potter would make the most sense.

 18th Century Utilitarian Earthenware Crock Found in Charlestown, Ma

Excavated from a Privy at the Three Cranes Tavern

Ca. 1765-1775

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

Colorful Raspberry and Cream Colored Glaze

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

A similar glazed jug is seen at the Dyer Memorial Library in Abington, Massachusetts - as part of the eighteenth century collection of red earthenware by the potter John Henry Benner. The jug was donated to the historical society without a strong provenience or an attribution. It may have been made by John Henry Benner - or it may have been produced by a potter employed in northern New England - where a similar glaze was also used. I am hopeful the glaze comparison between the jug and the Charlestown crock are more than only a coincidence. Its interesting to see two similar glazes, that are not common, but each was found roughly twenty miles apart. Whether the jug is an eighteenth century product or not is yet to be determined.

  18th or 19th Century Red Earthenware Jug

Kept Within the John Henry Benner Collection of Red Earthenware in Abington, Ma

Photo Courtesy: Dyer Memorial Library - Abington, Ma

Colorful Raspberry and Cream Colored Glaze

Photo Courtesy: Dyer Memorial Library - Abington, Ma

The use of raspberry and cream glazes appear to have transitioned into the nineteenth century with northern New England potters. I am unaware if there is any eighteenth century Massachusetts connection. A similar glaze is seen in a trash pile full of broken earthenware and kiln wasters at the actual Bickford Family Pottery in Buxton, Maine. The Bickford Pottery operated from the first quarter of the nineteenth century up into the 1880s. The  context of these shards suggests a possible 1840 to 1860 timeframe. A milk pan that matches shards from the Bickford site is also shown for comparison. The milk pan was discovered just south of Maine in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

  19th Century Raspberry and Cream Glazed Red Earthenware Shard

Found at the Bickford Pottery Site in Buxton, Me   

 

19th Century Raspberry and Cream Glazed Red Earthenware Shard

Together with a Matching Milk Pan

Shard Found at the Bickford Pottery Site in Buxton, Me

Last July, my nephew, Jason and myself found a large raspberry and cream glazed utilitarian crock while searching through the flea market fields in Brimfield, Massachusetts. It was purchased from a local dealer. The jug has an eighteenth century feel to it. I initially thought it was a product of the Charlestown earthenware industry due to the similar glazed crock uncovered at the Three Cranes Tavern, but I guess another potter is possible. Raspberry and cream glazes were also used in parts of Maine, Vermont and Western New York in the nineteenth century.  It must have been the vibrant colors that appealed to the consumer since it was used by so many nineteenth century businesses. Who would have thought this mixture of glazes would have been so popular throughout New England and really the northeast?!

 My Nephew, Jason with a Raspberry and Cream Glazed Utilitarian Crock

Found in Brimfield, Ma - July 2013

Probably From an 18th Century Massachusetts Maker

But Also Possibly from a Maine or Vermont Potter

Colorful Raspberry and Cream Colored Interior Glaze
Very Similar Colors to Those Seen in Abington and Charlestown, Mass

The raspberry and cream colored glazes seen in Maine, Vermont and Western New York are typically softer colors than the examples in Abington and Charlestown. It is interesting to know - that I have not seen any other similar glazed shards in the Charlestown Archaeology Collection. I actually cannot recall ever having seen anything even close to these colors. There are a lot of reds, greens, blacks and unglazed material - and of course, lots of slip decoration, but no raspberry and cream. The collection shows a huge variety of glaze colors so it is possible there is more to be discovered.

I do feel the jug at the Dyer Memorial Library may be related to the crock from Charlestown, due to the strong similarities in color. With that under consideration, I wonder if John Henny Benner, an immigrant German potter could be responsible for both? Benner initially began working south of Boston in an area known as Germantown in the 1750s, which is a part of Quincy, Massachusetts today. When that area disappeared, Benner emerged nearby in Abington in the 1760s and continued to work there until the latter years of the eighteenth century. The Dyer Memorial Library does have kiln furniture and shards from Benner's operation in Abington, but none of the glazes resemble what we see in this report. Lura Woodside Watkins (Early New England Potters and Their Wares) also collected red earthenware shards from the Germantown-area and her findings were the same.

 Red Earthenware Shards from "Germantown" - Quincy, Ma

Ca. 1750s

Lura Woodside Watkins Collection

Photo Courtesy: The Smithsonian, National Museum of American History - Washington, D.C.

  Red Earthenware Shards from "Germantown" - Quincy, Ma

Attributed to John Henry Benner

Ca. 1750s

Lura Woodside Watkins Collection

Photo Courtesy: The Smithsonian, National Museum of American History - Washington, D.C.

Glazed Kiln Bricks from the Site of John Henry Benner's Business - Abington, Ma

Ca. 1760s to 1790s

Photo Courtesy: Dyer Memorial Library - Abington, Ma

1770 was a controversial time to be living in Boston - and even in Charlestown with politics, power and Parliament playing a major role in the daily lives of colonists. Without getting into the specifics about Charlestown's earthenware industry - there may be reasons to believe the  industry was in decline by 1770 - due to the state of local protests, the economy and an unstable urban lifestyle for many people. It is unlikely, but Charlestown may have seen a small group of imported red earthenware make its way into town. It is also possible the crock from the Three Cranes Tavern may have traveled by some means into Charlestown by way of a visitor or an individual who had relocated. It is also possible the glaze was used in Charlestown in only a sparing amount by a potter who is known, but not yet identified to this type of glaze. There is also a chance the potter is not known. It's all theory, but its also very interesting to try and gauge why this broken crock ended up in a privy in the center of Charlestown around 1770. It's equally interesting to try and grasp the idea that these eighteenth century glazes may have influenced potters elsewhere in America in the nineteenth century. 

Much More to Come...