About a month ago, I purchased a red earthenware flower pot from a person who cleans out homes in the greater Beverly, Massachusetts area. This particular pot is actually directly fresh from a Beverly home. It had a bunch of fake flowers stuffed inside of it when I first saw it. It looked terrible with the flowers. I'm not sure how anyone thought this looked good.
The pot is in immaculate condition with what I describe as an oatmeal type glaze. It's covered in a grayish-glaze with brown particles scattered throughout it. I think it's a beautiful piece - and the glaze conforms with what part of the potter's industry in southern Maine was doing around the time of the Industrial Revolution. I am not able to specifically attribute this flower pot; although the colors are in keeping with what potters were doing in places like Hollis, Maine and Buxton, Maine in the 1840s, 1850s and 1860s. It's even still in tradition with the products that were made in the 1870s in Buxton. There were many businesses outside of Buxton and Hollis that made red earthenware in places like Portland - and other small towns to Portland's west and south that we still do not entirely understand today - and this pot could also be involved with one of those companies.
It's a form that I have not seen attributed to Maine before; however the trash pile that I saw at the Bickford Pottery (search past reports) in Buxton taught me that there is a great deal to be learned about every potter in the state of Maine. The Bickford Pottery trash pile showed extremely colorful glazes and uncommon Maine forms that I would never have suspected to be a Maine product prior to seeing what I saw. I think what the Buxton site can teach all people interested in Maine utilitarian pottery is that there is plenty more to be learned about each potter in this state. From my own personal experience - I have found that to understand many of the Maine potters that I must venture away from the expected forms (i.e. jugs, pitchers, pans and crocks) to see the vision that all of these potters possessed. This idea can likely hold true for much of the overall American utilitarian potter's red earthenware industry.
A good friend and mentor has said to me many times before, "There's a good chance that we only know as little as 10 percent of what was happening with many early American potters and their output." I completely agree with him. For example, newly found products have opened my eyes to forms made by the potter, William Pecker in Merrimacport, Massachusetts. These new forms have never been attributed before and it's 2014 - Lura Woodside Watkins wrote her important book, Early New England Potters and Their Wares more than sixty-years ago with Pecker being a major focus of her research. I personally feel there is still a lot to be learned about much of the early American red earthenware potter's movement.
Take a look at the flower pot below and be your own judge. It is pictured aside a small crock that was found in Maine by an antiques dealer in 2013 with a similar glaze.
(Right) 19th Century Red Earthenware Flower Pot - Possibly Made in Southern Maine
Recently Found in Beverly, Mass
Stands 6" Tall
(Left) Similar Glazed Small 19th Century Crock - Possibly Made in Southern Maine
Found in Maine in 2013 by a Maine Antiques Dealer
Two of These Smalls Crocks Have Now Been Found in Maine - This is the Second
Stands 4" Tall
Interior of Hand-Turned Pot
Base of Hand-Turned Pot
The Clay Color is a Color Sometimes Seen on Southern Maine Red Earthenware Products
It is Similar to the Color Red Seen on Bricks
Wonderful Grey-Colored Glaze that is Covered in Brown Particles
Please Stay Tuned…Much More to Come...
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