EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: November 2014

Friday, November 28, 2014

17th and 18th Century Red Earthenware Made by "Simple Potters" in Coastal Colonial Massachusetts

According to the book, The Folk Arts and Crafts of New England published in 1965, "The potters who first practiced their craft in New England were exposed to the most primitive conditions. Little opportunity was afforded for any conscious artistry since they were hard put to produce household articles for everyday living. Clay was plentiful in the seaport settlement at Salem (Massachusetts) where the first New England pottery was started. In 1629, the Reverend Higginson recorded, 'we are setting a brick-kill on work to make Bricke and Tyle for the making of our houses.' Using the same red clay, they made pots, milk pans, mugs, plates, and similar articles of what we call redware or brownware (today)."

I was compelled to write this report after reading the above citation; the subject is engaging. The Drinker Pottery is regarded as the first utilitarian red earthenware business in New England, which began around 1635 in Charlestown, Massachusetts; however the above information is compelling. Was that operation in Salem not considered a business? It appears in some instances that as soon as European settlers traveled to the New World it seems that detecting a proper clay source for infrastructure and possibly some utilitarian needs became an objective. I assume the brick kiln that is referenced was not intended for profit; rather it was used for supplies to benefit the settlement. My interpretation is there was no commerce with this kiln and the supplies made in Salem in 1629 - and thus why the Drinker business is regarded as the first, "business" in New England.

As I continued to read; "Simple though New England redware may be, it is nevertheless sturdy and vigorous in form and it has a charm that is difficult to define. Lustrous glazes, soft colors, and shapes of good proportion combine to make a virile, handsome ware. Earthy by its very nature, with its suggestion of soil, leaves, and trees, it captures the essence of the early potter's movement. That is beauty is largely accidental makes it no less lovable; its variations are like the changes of Nature herself, never ending, ever yielding fresh enjoyment. It is truly an expression of simple people - men almost without conscious thought of art. Like them their pottery is strong, direct, stripped of pretense and foolish ornamentation. It was created to fill a demand, and incidentally, to please those who came to buy."

As the commitments of early pottery production grew from basic needs into businesses and later industries in New England in the seventeenth and eighteenth-centuries - decoration became a focus with a certain group of products. The use of kaolin for slip decoration adorned many products made in the Salem and Charlestown areas in the eighteenth-century.

The red earthenware pot that sold at Tim Gould Auctions in Gardiner, Maine last Saturday is very-likely an important object made in Charlestown before the battle of Bunker Hill happened on June 17, 1775. The battle was a building point that led to America's independence in 1776. Before the battle, the town was home to more than forty potters and an industry that spanned the seventeenth and eighteenth-centuries. Ultimately, some of these potters sacrificed their business and place of employment for America's own self-government. It's a part of Charlestown's history and the American Revolution that has been slightly overlooked today; although much of this history was salvaged when a team of archaeologists carefully excavated Charlestown in the 1980s as part of archaeology conduction prior to the Big Dig breaking ground. Without this archaeology, the pot Tim Gould sold may not have been recognized. It may have been seen as simply a wonderful slip decorated pot made in either America or elsewhere in the world. This is why archaeology is so important to people like me; we can tie in whole objects to sherds and artifacts kept in museums and archaeology departments around the country. It's a very important process. In time - and with proper research, we hope to determine more information about the pot sold by Gould Auctions - and we also hope to be completely certain this is a Charlestown-made product.

18th Century Slip Decorated Red Earthenware Jar
Likely Made in Charlestown, Mass.

Likely Ca. 1735-1775

A Very Rare Survivor Today

Found in a Home in Winchester, Ma in 1976

A View of One Handle

Both Handles Were Similar

View of the Incredible Lid

The Detail is Wonderful!

A related story happened to me at an auction in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2011 when a large hand-thrown eighteenth-century slip decorated red earthenware pitcher sold. The pitcher was described as an "American-made product." However I had no idea where it could have been made. That's what dealers and collectors also told me; they said they shied away from it because they were not sure of its origin.

The pitcher was decorated in a clear lead glaze with an unusual slip technique that was splashed. I took a chance on it - and I bought it for almost the opening bid. Someone put their hand up once so it took a couple of bids for me to win the pitcher. I wasn't positive where it was made, but I sure felt confident that it was an American-made product. I later discovered that a red earthenware chamber pot was uncovered from a privy (trash pit) at the Narbonne House in Salem with the exact same splash technique. It was uncovered in 1770 archaeological context.

The Narbonne House is a piece of property owned and operated by the National Parks Services; the house was built in the seventeenth-century and it remained a middle-class occupancy through the twentieth-century. Directly in front of the home is where much of Salem's maritime trade happened in the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries.

From what I could see, all of the utilitarian red earthenware recovered at the Narbonne House was manufactured along coastal Massachusetts between Boston, South Danvers (now known as Peabody) and Newburyport; as a result, I believe this pitcher was made in this same area. It's a piece I was lucky on at auction since it was difficult to know for sure where it was made. I have never seen anything else like it since.

18th Century Slip Decoration Red Earthenware Pitcher

Possibly Made on Coastal Massachusetts

Similar Decoration is Seen on a Chamber Pot Uncovered in Salem, Ma in a Circa 1770 Context
See Black and White Picture Below for a Similar Decoration Seen on a Chamber Pot

Stands 13" Tall

(Left) Chamber Pot Recovered at the Narbonne House in Salem, Ma
Very Similar Splashed Slip Technique
Ca. 1770 Archaeological Context
Photo Courtesy: National Parks Services Narbonne House Archaeological Report - Salem, Ma

Another View of the Pitcher

View of the Handle

View of the Incised Lines and the Top of the Pitcher

View of the Splattered Slip Decoration

View of the Interior

View of the Base

The use of slip decoration began to fade in most of New England after the American Revolution; I don't really have a complete answer why this happened; although the only state that completely embraced its use in the nineteenth-century was Connecticut. This area followed suite as to what was accomplished in places to the south like Long Island and Pennsylvania rather than the rest of New England in the 1800s.

Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

An Unlikely Story: How I Discovered an Interesting Example of American-Made Folk Art Yesterday in Salem, Massachusetts

This is a story that I briefly shared with some people yesterday; however since it was such an unbelievable experience, I have decided to write about it.

On my way home from work in Newton, Massachusetts yesterday afternoon, I decided to make a beeline straight on route 128 north towards Salem, Massachusetts rather than take my normal path on route 95 north to Newburyport, Massachusetts. About once a month - I make the excursion to Salem to pick through the local antique stores, vintage shops and thrift stores. I've been very fortunate over the past year to have discovered a number of wonderful examples of locally made nineteenth-century red earthenware. I only visited two shops yesterday - one of which occupies a beautiful backdrop on Pickering Wharf next to Salem's original waterfront and near the National Parks Service's owned and operated, Narbonne House. Interestingly, I have found three pieces of pottery in this particular shop since 2013 - and all those were products made at Thomas Nickerson's Merrimac Pottery Company in Newburyport between 1897 and 1908. I will admit I have asked the question; is it possible that Nickerson had some sort of export opportunity into Salem around the turn of the twentieth-century or maybe this is all merely a coincidence. I haven't been able to figure that out; however this is not the total point of this report. It's what happened to me after I left this shop that was very unlikely. I couldn't make this kind of stuff up if I wanted to.

(Left) Likely Unmarked Red Earthenware Pitcher Made in Newburyport, Ma

Ca. 1897-1908 - Merrimac Pottery Company

Stands 6 3/4" Tall

(Right) Likely Unmarked Red Earthenware Vase Made in Newburyport, Ma

Ca. 1897-1908 - Merrimac Pottery Company

Stands 5 3/8" Tall

Another View of Both Pieces

When I left the antique shop, I noticed that someone had parked only a few inches beside my Jeep in the parking lot. As a result, I decided to walk around Pickering Wharf for a few minutes to see what other stores were in the area and wait for them to move their car. After a minute or two, I stopped to check my phone for messages and while I stood there, I heard a man yell to me from a hair salon. He said, "Hey, are you looking for antiques?" I was kind of shocked so I hesitantly said, "Yes." I didn't really know what to say or expect. He told me to come in the shop for a minute. When I stepped into the salon, he told me he recognized me from Todd's Farm in Rowley, Massachusetts, which is a weekly flea market I go to almost every Sunday morning in the spring, summer and fall months. Rowley is in Essex County on Boston's North Shore.

As he showed me around, I could clearly see the salon was bulging full of customers; nonetheless the shop was also full of antiques. He had decorated his business with antique medical instruments, oddities (which go well in Salem), glass and obscure Chinese antiques. The Chinese-made decoration also goes well in Salem considering much of the China Trade that happened in Salem in the nineteenth-century occurred directly outside the windows of his shop. He told me that when we were done looking around he would take me to his storage unit.

I was actually quite impressed with how the shop was decorated; it wasn't necessarily items that are my primary interest - even though I could certainly appreciate each piece for what they were.

Once we had wrapped up, he asked the girl working the front counter for his storage keys. She handed them to him and we proceeded to the anterior end the shops on Pickering Wharf. As we approached the room that he called his storage unit - he told me that it was actually a converted ice cream parlor that closed down and he decided to rent the space for his antiques. The windows of this small space were completely covered with blinds and a few antique tin advertising signs. Essentially, you couldn't see inside; all of the windows were blocked.

I was shocked when he opened the door; the room was filled with all sorts of antiques that included medical, Chinese, glass, stoneware, comics, lighting devices, art, folk art and plenty more. Everything was quality. It was really the type of material that I would expect to find in Salem; although you don't traditionally find in Salem's shops. Carefully placed high above on a shelf and out of plain sight next to the door, I saw a wonderful large hand-carved wooden bald eagle. I asked him if I could see it and he brought it down for me to check out. I carried it outside in the sunlight and I was really impressed with it. I asked him where he found it. He told me that it was found in Biddeford, Maine last winter. He also told me that this is how he sells antiques; he said this is his storage unit that he occasionally takes people into who have a serious interest. He also told me that he basically only sells out of his salon - and surprisingly, many people come into the shop not for a haircut, but instead to buy antiques. I asked him how much he wanted for the eagle and the rest is history.

The Hand-Carved Eagle That I Found in Salem, Ma

I am not positive where this eagle was made. It is certainly American-made. It definitely has quite a bit of age to it. It's entirely hand-carved from a hard wood, which I believe could be maple. I want to believe this could be an example of Maine-made folk art, but I also wonder if it was made elsewhere in places like Vermont or even very possibly Pennsylvania.

19th Century American Hand-Carved Wooden Bald Eagle - It May be Carved out of Maple

Found Yesterday in Salem, Ma

Originally Found in Biddeford, Me

Stands 20 1/2" Tall

Measures 13 3/4" Wide From Wing-to-Wing

Close Up of the Head

Close Up of the Claws and the Base

View of the Bald Eagle's Back

View of the Base

This was such an unlikely experience. I would never have expected something like this to happen. The shop owner was extremely nice. He told me that a lot of his inventory is picked locally in the Salem area, but he also goes elsewhere. Aside from the shop I already visit on Pickering Wharf in Salem - I now may have another destination to pick in this part of the city. Who knows what else may turn up for antiques in this hair salon!

Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...

Monday, November 24, 2014

A Recap of Tim Gould's November 22, 2014 Sale in Gardiner, Maine

A little more than one month ago, I wrote a report about a jar that sold this past Saturday at Tim Gould's auction in Gardiner, Maine; whereas, I had suggested in the report that it was very likely a product made in Charlestown, Massachusetts before the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775. There were more than forty potters associated with this industry for more than a century, dating back to the 1600s.

The Charlestown industry both directly and indirectly influenced a large number of potters in the nineteenth-century in New England; without its demise, which was a result of the onslaught brought on by English troops on the morning of June 17, 1775, who knows what the landscape of the utilitarian red earthenware potter's industry would have looked like in New England in the 1800s.

I do believe this jar was made in Charlestown during the circa 1735 to 1755 period, where it is similar to objects that have been recovered in Charlestown within a similar context. Stylistically, the slip-decoration is very similar to a number of chamber pots and other artifacts recovered by archaeologists in Charlestown during the archaeology of Boston's Big Dig Project in the 1980s.

There has been discussion about what the intended purpose of this pot was used for and both a sugar pot and honey pot have been suggested. Unfortunately, I do not have an exact answer for its specific use.

When I handled this piece on Saturday, I was impressed with the decoration, form and especially the lid. I have never seen anything like it before; whereas, I have viewed many of the major private collections in New England and I have even visited many of the major museum collections across the country, but a pot of this magnitude does not appear to exist today. There has also been no restoration to this pot. It is in as-found condition.

The provenance is incredible: This pot has ties to Nina Fletcher Little, who was an extremely important individual within the field of American folk art and the early decorative arts here in New England. Her one-time summer home in Essex, Massachusetts, named Cogswell Grant has been turned into a museum with all of the original American furnishings and decorative arts still in-tact the way she would have displayed them.

There is also an important collection of almost entirely New England-made red earthenware at Cogswell's Grant, where I have previously written that there is nothing in that collection of this stature tied to the Charlestown industry.

The pot below not only has ties to Little, but it was also found in a home in Winchester, Massachusetts in 1976. Winchester is located only seven-miles northwest of Charlestown. Winchester is also only about five-miles from where the Battle of Lexington and Concord took place in 1776, which was the precursor to the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Charlestown, Mass. Red Earthenware Pot

18th Century Slip Decorated Red Earthenware Pot Attributed to Charlestown, Mass.
Sold to a Phone Bidder for More than $15,000
Reportedly Found in a Home in Winchester, MA in 1976

Circa 1735-177

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Tim Gould - Gardiner, ME

View of the Incredible Lid
Photo Courtesy: Tim Gould - Gardiner, ME

A View of One Handle
Both Handles Were Similar
Photo Courtesy: Tim Gould - Gardiner, ME

Nevertheless, as much as I was at the auction to see the pot above sell - I was also there to do a little bidding for myself. An exceedingly rare butter stamp was offered as part of the sale. I had no intentions of leaving the auction without buying this piece. I really wanted to add it to my collection. I knew information about this butter stamp that only a small number of people know today - and, it is thanks to southern Maine collector and cabinet maker, Rick Poore that I know this information.

An exact butter stamp was found in the house built by the potter, John Alld in Hollis, Maine. Alld is a highly sought after Maine potter today. The house was recently under construction and miraculously found inside an interior wall was a butter print that matched the object at Tim Gould's sale.

I feel it would be far-fetched to believe that another potter's work was purposely placed inside a very important potter's wall. I conversed with a group of Maine collectors at the sale, and between all of us, we only knew of a few examples that existed today. Even Tim Gould said, "Maine-made butter molds are extremely rare." He continued to say, "In all my years in the antiques business, I have only seen one other Maine butter mold, which was in my family's private collection."

Tim Gould Auction in Augusta, Maine