Often, tulip decorated products can set the market for how American utilitarian pottery is viewed in museums and the marketplace. Aside from tulip ware, red earthenware figures made by potters in the Mid-Atlantic and Southern states in the nineteenth-century are also highly collectible from this region - more specifically, it was a form that was mastered by potters in Virginia and Pennsylvania. Prices can achieve numbers in the hundreds up through the tens-of-thousands-of-dollars. The figures range from typical household animals like cats and dogs - to exotic animals such as lions, parrots and rhinoceroses - and even the expected animals native to this county like squirrels, chickens and deer. People are even sometimes the subject of such forms. It is very difficult to properly attributed some of these forms to a single potter. The most desired figures usually had a base placed at the bottom.
A friend and mentor of mine - who lives in Pennsylvania has actually told me stories about the Hobo Potter - who reportedly made figures in exchange for a bed to sleep in at night…etc. The need in which he made his products is similar to an antique field known as Tramp Art. Tramp Art was also done by hobos and exchanged for similar needs as the Hobo Potter. If you can envision the idea of a potter making such a skilled, but also unique figure for a clean bed to sleep in at night - that's quite an interesting story. This is true American folk art to me. The Hobo Potter wasn't necessarily a traditional potter. I'm not even sure if he was a trained potter or a self-taught potter, but it is certainly an interesting story. This was all supposedly happening in Pennsylvania sometime after 1850 and possibly even 1860. I bet the Hobo Potter would be in shock to see what his art sells for today.
The most prominent potters known to make figures were likely the Bell family of potters who worked throughout Pennsylvania and Virginia in the nineteenth-century. It is in my opinion that many of the figures known today are difficult to properly attribute; although the Bell family figures often possessed unique characteristics, which help with an accurate attribution.
For an important comparison - I would place many of these figures in a similar category as the mid-level tulip ware products. They don't achieve six-figure numbers, but they certainly often garner prices into the thousands of dollars - which indicates how desired they are today.
19th Century Red Earthenware Deer Likely Made in Pennsylvania
Ca. Third Quarter of the 19th Century
Height: 8" Tall
Length: 6 1/2" Long
Ex Collection of Kelly Young & Pauline Heilman
This is the Typical Type Base that I Discuss Above
The Deer Has Been Hand Modeled
Photo Courtesy: Crocker Farm, Inc. - Sparks, Md
I recently found an elephant figure of an unknown origin. It was purchased at a local flea market by a dealer who had recently found it inside a box in a New Hampshire barn. I asked him if he knew anymore information, but he said he did not. He told me the figure appeared to have quite a bit of age to it.
I can see five distinct characteristics in the elephant figure:
1) It is molded.
2) It has a base similar to many of the Pennsylvania-made figures.
3) The clay is the color of red bricks - which is how the clay color appeared on many products made by Maine potters.
4) The elephant has been glazed brown, which was also a popular glaze color with many Maine potters. In Maine, they may have used the color brown more than black to distinguish their more common glazes from the New Hampshire potters - who often used black (manganese) glazes.
5) The elephant figure can certainly share the allure of a lion figure sometimes made by Pennsylvania potters. Both are considered exotic.
I provide two separate types of lighting in the photos below to show how the elephant appears. It is a little darker in person - even though the photos give a good idea of its appearance. I have handled a number of Pennsylvania and Virginia-made figures - and the weight of this elephant is in keeping with those products.
Probably 19th Century Red Earthenware Elephant
Origin Unkown
Found Recently in a New Hampshire Barn
Height: 3 3/4" Inches Tall
Length: 3 1/2" Long
The Elephant is Molded
The Base is Similar to the Base Seen on the Deer Above
Clay Color is the Color of Many Maine-Made Red Earthenware Products
The Elephant Appears to Have a Brown Glaze
Close Up of the Elephant's Facial Features
I have no proof that this is a New England-made product, but the mold seems almost experimental. It doesn't seem mastered. It has definitely been carved out of something. Could they have been making molded figures in New England (Northern New England) like they were in places like Pennsylvania and Virginia? It is certainly something to think about.
Please Stay Tuned…Much More to Come...
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