The Diversity of Late 19th & Early 20th Century Products Made at theMerrimac Pottery Company in Newburyport, Mass - Part 5

This is a period retail advertisement I saw at the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts a few weeks ago. In 1871-1872 - the retailer, Hinrich's of New York City placed an ad for their 71st Annual Display of Fancy Goods, Glass, China, Toys, & etc. For the Holidays "Is Now Ready." The ad reminded me of where many of the finer products potters produced after 1870 - and through the remainder of the nineteenth century may have occasionally ended up.

"Terra cotta, lava or sydrolith ware: vases, coupes, floweramples, punch or oyster bowls, ink and card stands, richly decorated in gilt, platina or rustic, including all the latest patterns. Lava busts and figures, flower-amples, pots and baskets in different patterns and colors. Fish and flower stands, ferneries, etc. animal heads and wall panellings."

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I have always thought of the Merrimac Pottery Company in Newburyport, Massachusetts as a business that produced red earthenware products. The area has provided abundant clays for potters since the eighteenth century. Names like Clement Kent, Ebenezer Morrison, John Thomas and the Bayley family all drew from the same clay source at least a hundred years before Thomas Nickerson did-so for the Merrimac Pottery Company.

I recently read Nickerson imported clays from Ohio. This idea puzzled me. The idea of what I had always believed as opposed to what I read definitely conflicted with the need and what seemed to be an unnecessary business expense. However, after recently visiting the Historic Society of Old Newbury  in Newburyport - I understood what Nickerson's need for imported clays entailed. There is a chance Nickerson may have contracted with one of the many art potters who worked in Ohio during the period for the desired  clays. Ohio art potters were arguably at the center of the Arts and Crafts Movement at the turn of the twentieth century.

Jay Williamson (Curator of the Historic Society of Old Newbury) and Chris Snow (Antique Dealer and Past President of the Historic Society of Old Newbury) excavated a large collection of shards from the site of Nickerson's company as construction was happening for a condominium development in 1998. What they found was a group of shards dominated by terra-cotta or red earthenware products - but there were a small amount of shards made of white clay. I assume these products were what the imported clays from Ohio were intended for.

 Collection of Earthenware Shards Found at the Merrimac Pottery Company in Newburyport, Ma

Photo Courtesy: Historic Society of Old Newbury - Newburyport, Ma

Collection of Earthenware Shards Found at the Merrimac Pottery Company in Newburyport, Ma
Photo Courtesy: Historic Society of Old Newbury - Newburyport, Ma

Earthenware Shards Possibly Made from Imported Ohio Clays

 Shards Found at the Merrimac Pottery Company in Newburyport, Ma
Photo Courtesy: Historic Society of Old Newbury - Newburyport, Ma

The historical society owns a nice selection of pottery made at the Merrimac Pottery Company. Their collection appears to be made up of products only made from local clays used for red earthenware. I have recently written extensively about ancient forms made from Portland, Maine, Concord, New Hampshire and throughout parts of Massachusetts that focused on Grecian styles beginning in 1870 up through the early 1900s. Nickerson's company was apart of this movement. A lid is pictured below from one of these Grecian forms. It was probably a part of the company's line of terra-cotta garden products. The name, Merrimac is prominently marked across the top of it.

Merrimac Pottery Company Grecian Lid - Newburyport, Ma
Probably from a Garden Product

Ca. 1902-1908

Photo Courtesy: Historic Society of Old Newbury - Newburyport, Ma

I recently discovered a similar decorated bowl; however it is made of the white clays that were probably from elsewhere in America (likely Ohio). It is my belief these earthenware products are extremely rare when compared to the red earthenware ancient styles. The bowl is also paper thin - which surprises me that it has survived - in an almost flawless condition - for more than a hundred years.

It's also very interesting to know that Nickerson modeled most of his Grecian forms after actual examples kept at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston -- this bowl happens to be one of those examples.

Merrimac Pottery Company Earthenware Bowl - Newburyport, Ma

Ca. 1902-1908

Modeled After a Form at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts

Measures 6" Across

 

Wonderful Ancient Figures in Relief

Very Thinly Potted

I examined the shards from the Merrimac Pottery Company out of curiosity a few weeks ago. I didn't imagine they would reveal so much information as seen from this report and the previous four.

See the Links Below for Previous Merrimac Pottery Company Reports:

Report 1 - "Floral Products Made Before 1902"
Report 2 - "Monumental Garden Products Made After 1902"
Report 3 - "Stamps and Labels Used at the Merrimac Pottery Company Between 1897-1908"
Report 4 - "Partially Glazed Shards Similar to Utilitarian Earthenware Crocks"

There will be more about the Merrimac Pottery Company and additional early American potters to come! Please stay tuned!