EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: A Newly Acquired Red Earthenware Bowl or Cup with Ties to Massachusetts' Late 18th and Early 19th Century Industries

Friday, August 15, 2014

A Newly Acquired Red Earthenware Bowl or Cup with Ties to Massachusetts' Late 18th and Early 19th Century Industries

Today, I met up with a friend of mine to pick up a diminutive red earthenware bowl or cup that I have been meaning to get for months. Another friend of mine recently told me, "…this was the best piece of New England redware he'd seen available in a long time." There isn't a strong history for the piece other than spending the past fifty or so years in a private New England collection - And not until this year - did it become available. The jar is incredible! It's thinly potted, with extremely finely applied incised decoration, the proportions are great - and the variation in glaze colors are absolutely beautiful.

While I do not have a specific attribution for the jar - let me show you some comparable forms and characteristics that are seen on examples reportedly made at the Abraham Hews Pottery in Weston, Massachusetts in the eighteenth and early nineteenth-centuries.

Abraham Hews should be considered a country potter, who began a red earthenware business to contribute to his household income as a farmer about ten-years before the American Revolution began (circa 1765). His business flourished in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth-centuries - and it eventually descended through family-run ownership. Hews Pottery later adapted to the Industrial Revolution, moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts and altered its business approach to cater towards molded products in a mass-production industrial atmosphere; however glazed household products from the Weston operation are considered exceedingly rare today. I know of less than five that are properly attributed - and two of those are seen in this report.

The first example of Hews Pottery I am going to show - is a jar seen in the Lura Woodside Watkins collection of New England red earthenware at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. Watkins attributes this jar, which had a very strong tie to Weston and the Hews family through reportedly discovering it in a home in Weston with a rich local family history. Part of the form of this jar is similar to the jar of discussion seen below.

Hews Pottery Attributed Red Earthenware Jar - Weston, Ma

Ca. Late 18th or Early 19th Century

Lura Woodside Watkins Collection of New England-Made Red Earthenware

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

Base of the Jar

Lura Woodside Watkins Collection of New England-Made Red Earthenware

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

Another Hews Pottery example in Watkins collection, also found in that same Weston home - shows a similar glaze to the jar of discussion seen further below.

Hews Pottery Attributed Red Earthenware Jug - Weston, Ma

Ca. Late 18th or Early 19th Century

Lura Woodside Watkins Collection of New England-Made Red Earthenware

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

View of the Handle

Lura Woodside Watkins Collection of New England-Made Red Earthenware

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

I have also examined a collection of flower pot sherds from Gore Place in Waltham, Massachusetts in an early nineteenth-century archaeological context that exhibit a similar finely applied incised decoration. Hews Pottery produced a large amount of unglazed flower pots in the early nineteenth-century, which was possibly a result of a strong demand in the nearby communities. Waltham and Weston are bordering communities - and it was likely that Hews Pottery was among the dominate suppliers in the towns located west of Boston in the eighteenth and early nineteenth-centuries. Unless there was another supplier who made flower pots in the early nineteenth-century near Waltham that I am not aware of - it is my belief that most of the flower pot sherds found in an early nineteenth-century context at Gore Place were produced at the Hews Pottery in Weston.

Gore Place was built in 1806 - it acted as the summer home for Christopher Gore and his wife. Gore had a noteworthy life - serving as both a senator and later a governor, he was a Harvard University graduate and he even helped ratify the Massachusetts Constitution.

To my knowledge, all of the flower pot sherds were uncovered in the area where a green house was kept. Gore appears to have been an avid gardener; although if you notice on the sample sherds below - the finely applied incised technique is similar to the jar of discussion.

Flower Pot Sherd Found in an Early 19th Century Context in Weston, Ma

Uncovered at Gore Place in Waltham, Ma

Possibly Made at Hews Pottery in Weston, Ma

Notice the Finely Applied Incised Decoration

Photo Courtesy: University of Massachusetts at Boston Archaeology Dept. - Boston, Ma

Flower Pot Sherd Found in an Early 19th Century Context in Weston, Ma

Uncovered at Gore Place in Waltham, Ma

Possibly Made at Hews Pottery in Weston, Ma

Notice the Finely Applied Incised Decoration

Photo Courtesy: University of Massachusetts at Boston Archaeology Dept. - Boston, Ma

Without further discussion - here is the small bowl or cup that I am so incredibly thrilled to own. I am not going to say for sure if it is an example of Hews Pottery made in Weston, but I will say that I am convinced it was made in either coastal or central Massachusetts. I will leave the attribution up to you based on the evidence I have provided above.