The Red Earthenware of New York City Uncovered Through Archaeology: Report No. 2

A red earthenware object decorated with a marbled slip-decoration is among my favorite styles to find on American-made pottery today; however, it is also a rare style that is highly desired among collectors and museums today. This type of decoration is probably most-often seen on red earthenware products made in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Western New York; although, I assume this is not a complete list of known or unknown places, either.

For example, I saw a collection of red earthenware and stoneware sherds last fall that Long Island collector, writer and researcher, Anthony Butera had uncovered at the site of the Huntington Pottery on Long Island. Surprisingly, the sherds revealed that three-colored slip in a marbled decoration was likely manufactured at Huntington, Long Island likely in the nineteenth-century.

Nevertheless, when I was also recently studying a group of sherds recovered in New York City at the New York State Museum in Albany, New York - I was surprised to see an incredibly glazed sherd that reminded me of a jar I had once seen in a prominent  private collection in Connecticut. It had been suggested that the jar may have been produced in New York, possibly upstate New York, but the attribution was never guaranteed.

The following sherd was found at the Broad Street Financial Center Site in Lower Manhattan, which is located on the original seventeenth-century island of Manhattan. The sherd's context dates just before 1650 to the early eighteenth-century. The sherd is described as an Italian product, but I am not positive of that. Thoughts?

According to the archaeology report, "A clay analysis was conducted in an attempt to determine the sherd's country of origin; unfortunately the tests were inconclusive."

I have also studied marbled red earthenware sherds uncovered in an early eighteenth-century context in Charlestown, Massachusetts and Woolwich, Maine also attributed to potters in North Italy; however those products appear different than this sherd in both the color of the glaze/slip and the color of the clay.

Note: Here is a link to an article that shows some of the North Italian red earthenware sherds, which have been recovered in seventeenth century contexts in New England.

Sherd Recovered in Manhattan, NY

17th or 18th Century Marbled Red Earthenware Sherd Found in New York City

Ca. Mid-17th Century to Early 18th Century

The Sherd Was Uncovered in the Broad Street Financial Center Site in Lower Manhattan

Photo Courtesy: New York State Museum - Albany, NY

The Interior Glaze on the Sherd

Photo Courtesy: New York State Museum - Albany, NY

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