EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: A Possibly Very-Rare Example of Dated American (Maybe New England) 19th Century Red Earthenware

Thursday, October 2, 2014

A Possibly Very-Rare Example of Dated American (Maybe New England) 19th Century Red Earthenware

An example of nineteenth-century red earthenware that has really peaked my interest over the past month - is this miniature pitcher or creamer, which was found in the antique fields at Brimfield, Massachusetts in early September. It sits on a bay window in my house filled with eighteenth and nineteenth-century red earthenware plates, pans and platters that overlook my backyard full of gardens and ponds. Unfortunately, it's the time of year where a lot of those plants begin to die back. In front of all of those plates, pans and platters - sits a group of miniatures pieces of pottery all made in New England. I've pulled this particular piece off the shelf a few times in the past week and looked at it in curiosity over what the potter was thinking when he made it. It's covered in a wonderful manganese glaze that almost appears like a deep plum color.

Aside from the glaze and form, what's really spectacular about this piece - is the base appears to have been inscribed with pencil, "Year 1844." The hand-writing is a bit difficult to read; however that is how it appears to me. Appropriately, the word, "Year" is written in cursive, which would make sense for the period; although I have no proof that the writing is actually original. But, why would someone go to the trouble of writing of all things, "Year 1844." If they wanted to get creative, there are many other avenues they could have gone down.

The overall form was made by a number of potters in New England, but it was also used in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. The pot is very skillfully potted. It features a rounded foot, an applied handle and a line that separates the body from the neck and the spout. Interestingly, the base is inverted - which is very seldomly seen from early American potters. Bases are typically flat from how they sat on the potter's wheel. Sometimes there was an applied cupped or ringed base; however an inverted base from an American potter is rare.

I am not positive where this piece was made; I want to say it was made in Essex County Massachusetts due to the glaze, but I am not a hundred-percent positive of that. I do feel that 1844 is an appropriate period for this piece to have been manufactured. It's small size, glaze, skill, proportions, inverted base and the writing on the bottom left little hesitation when I saw this piece for sale in Brimfield. It continues to fascinate me to this day. I am hopeful that I can eventually determine who the maker was since the inverted base is rather unique. And maybe the writing holds some truth into who that potter may be. It's the skillfully made pieces that you never have a definite answer for that can sometimes be the most fascinating!