EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: A Newly Found Black Glazed Red Earthenware Jar from a Home in North Hampton, New Hampshire

Sunday, October 26, 2014

A Newly Found Black Glazed Red Earthenware Jar from a Home in North Hampton, New Hampshire

Massachusetts antiques dealer and collector, Samuel Herrup spoke about the importance of black glazed utilitarian red earthenware at the Connecticut Springs Antiques Show in Hartford in 2013; he discussed how this color was a major part of the utilitarian potter's output. He also mentioned his appreciation towards the medium as a collector having owned a handful of examples himself.

It's almost like black glazes are an entirely separate product from early American red earthenware potters. Despite the color's uniqueness, not all collectors have an interest in black glazed wares today (some collectors prefer vibrant more colorful glazes); although there are many collectors, like myself and others who have a definite interest in black glazed products.

Black is a glaze color that was in use in the mid-seventeenth-century at the Kettle Family Pottery in Charlestown, Massachusetts (this was the first documented red earthenware business in New England) and its use continued well-into the Arts & Crafts Movement in the late nineteenth and twentieth-centuries; although black glazes were not only popular in New England - they have been found in archaeological contexts all-over Philadelphia and New York City in the eighteenth-century. It was a glaze color that virtually almost every American utilitarian potter applied through the span of their careers. Unfortunately, not all potters are represented with black glazed wares today. There are a number of potters who have yet to have the color black properly attributed to their work output - even though I strongly feel that most used the color.

Typically, I regard the color black as a decoration that covered an entire form, but black glazes were not exclusively used in this style - potters often applied the color black (typically created with the chemical element, manganese) over more subtle colors creating a contrasting composition. There were also potters who applied slip decoration on top of black glazes.

The color of a black glaze often varied in appearance from potter-to-potter and region-to-region. The variations are seen in darkness, streaking and sometimes hints of other colors caused from other elements mixed in with the glaze (manganese).

Late 17th Century Black Glazed Red Earthenware Chamber Pot - Charlestown, Ma

Found Inside a 17th Century Privy at the Three Cranes Tavern in Charlestown, Ma

Photo Courtesy: City of Boston Archaeology Department - West Roxbury, Ma

18th Century Black Glazed Red Earthenware Chamber Pot with Slip Decoration - Charlestown, Ma
Found Inside an 18th Century Privy at the Three Cranes Tavern in Charlestown, Ma
Photo Courtesy: The Massachusetts Historical Commission - Boston, Ma

Probably an 18th Century Black Glazed Red Earthenware Pot (Possibly a Coffee Pot)

This was Uncovered in Manhattan in New York City

Photo Courtesy: Chrysalis Archaeology - Brooklyn, NY

Probably All Late 18th Century Black Glazed Red Earthenware Sherds - Philadelphia, Pa

All Were Recovered in Philadephia, Pa

Photo Courtesy: National Parks Service Philadelphia Archaeology Dept. - Philadelphia, Pa

Today, while making my normal Sunday morning rounds at the flea markets here in New England, I stumbled across a black glazed red earthenware jar that was freshly removed from a house in North Hampton, New Hampshire (New Hampshire seacoast). The seller told me it was his grandmother's; he briefly explained to me that he remembered her owning it for a number of years.