The Intolerable Acts was a punishment levied by the British for the damage caused to the East India Trading Company at the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773. It was ultimately a group of acts passed to punish the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the city of Boston for what was seen as a severe act of defiance towards England - and of all the punitive measures, the act that probably crippled Charlestown's industry the most was the Boston Port Act. Under this act, Boston Harbor was closed to just about all incoming and outgoing traffic until the East India Trading Company was paid back the damages caused by Boston's Tea Party. The harbor was heavily guarded by British ships under this act - and considering Charlestown-made pottery was exported elsewhere in New England - the Boston Port Act likely hampered the industry's production.
The Battle at Lexington and Concord officially ignited the American Revolution a little over a year later on April 19, 1775 - and as a result, much of Charlestown evacuated in the late spring of that same year in fear of what may happen next.
At this point, the potter's industry most-likely halted all production. Less than two months later, the industry was completely burned to the ground by the onslaught brought on by British soldiers in June of 1775 at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Some potters returned to rebuild their businesses after General George Washington and his army of patriots forced approximately 11,000 British soldiers to evacuate from Boston in 1776, but the industry was never the same. The red earthenware industry never recovered. A small group of potters came back and produced pottery into the final years of the eighteenth-century - and even less continued their work into the nineteenth-century.
Charlestown is widely known today for the stoneware industry that began in the 1790's and continued throughout the 1800's; however, it is my belief, that the red earthenware industry was much-larger and overall, had a much larger impact on the average New England household. Unfortunately, not much is known about this industry today because so little is known to have survived. Fortunately, a group of archaeologists uncovered much of this lost industry as part of the archaeology conducted on behalf of Boston's Big Dig Project in the 1980's.
Print of General William Howe and British Soldiers Leaving Boston in 1776
Photo Courtesy: MountVernon.org
As promised yesterday, today marks the second object of red earthenware that I am going to discuss from Hollis Brodrick's collection of early antiques in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
The following eighteenth-century dotted slip decorated red earthenware tankard with a dark glaze was discovered in a shed in Portsmouth in the early 1970's; Hollis couldn't remember exactly when it was discovered, but he remarked that it may have been found in 1971. He discovered it with a group of dried paint brushes placed inside of it. This piece has a number of remarkable characteristics going for it that may link it to trends that were happening in the potter's industry in England in the eighteenth-century. To compensate for those popular trends in the American market - it appears a potter imitated some of those styles in pursuit of creating those designs fashionable on American-made pottery - or at the least, the potter was trying to sell American-made pottery that looked English.
It is difficult to say where this tankard was exactly made; although, there are characteristics that may directly tie it to the potters in Charlestown (or maybe even Portsmouth).
If you have read any of my recent reports over the past week - it has been shown by way of John Parker's Charlestown potter's daybook (ca. late 1740's to the 1750's) kept at the Baker Library at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts - that some-sort of export system from Charlestown to Portsmouth did exist in the late 1740's and possibly the 1750's. It is also believed that potters in Portsmouth before 1750 were producing pottery similar to that of which was made in Charlestown.
If you have read any of my recent reports over the past week - it has been shown by way of John Parker's Charlestown potter's daybook (ca. late 1740's to the 1750's) kept at the Baker Library at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts - that some-sort of export system from Charlestown to Portsmouth did exist in the late 1740's and possibly the 1750's. It is also believed that potters in Portsmouth before 1750 were producing pottery similar to that of which was made in Charlestown.
If you continue to read, you will see the following tankard closely resembles a pair of tankards recovered from the Big Dig archaeology in Charlestown.
18th Century Slip Decorated Red Earthenware Tankard
Possibly Made in Either Charlestown, Ma or Portsmouth, NH
Found in a Shed in Portsmouth, NH in the Early 1970's
Stands 5 3/4" Tall
Photo Courtesy: Hollis Brodrick Antiques - Portsmouth, NH
To start, the dotted slip decoration seen on the top-half of this tankard was popular with slip decorated earthenware made in the Staffordshire region in England in the seventeenth and eighteenth-centuries. It was probably most popular from the 1670's through the 1840's (on many English styles including dipped wares) - and this characteristic could be used as a possible dateable feature for when this tankard was possibly manufactured.
A pair of chamber pots are also pictured below that were recovered from privies during the archaeology handled in Charlestown. Both of the chamber pots were likely made in Staffordshire, which shows the English dot style seen in slipware was present in Charlestown in the eighteenth-century. These were both found in a pre-1750 context.
Slip Decorated Dot Decoration Seen on the Tankard
A Similar Decoration Was Used by Potters in Staffordshire, England from the 1670's to the 1770's
Photo Courtesy: Hollis Brodrick Antiques - Portsmouth, NH
Close Up of the Slip Decorated Dot Decoration
Photo Courtesy: Hollis Brodrick Antiques - Portsmouth, NH
Another Close Up of the Slip Decorated Dot Decoration
Photo Courtesy: Hollis Brodrick Antiques - Portsmouth, NH
18th Century Slipware Dotted Earthenware Chamber Pot - Likely Made in Staffordshire, England
Uncovered from a Privy at the Three Cranes Tavern in Charlestown, Ma
Photo Courtesy: Massachusetts Historical Commission - Boston, Ma
18th Century Slipware Dotted Earthenware Chamber Pot - Likely Made in Staffordshire, England
Uncovered from a Privy at the Three Cranes Tavern in Charlestown, Ma
Photo Courtesy: Massachusetts Historical Commission - Boston, Ma
Also seen on this tankard, is a simple slip line that was swiped across the top part of the handle. This was also a characteristic used in England in the eighteenth-century.
The English potter, John Astbury (1688-1743) is known today to have used this characteristic on some of his handled forms produced at his earthenware company (many of these products were likely lathe turned). I have not yet seen this characteristic in any of the archaeology from Charlestown that I have reviewed, but that doesn't mean it does not exist.
It is believed this characteristic was most popular in the 1730's through the 1750's giving this style a narrower production window than other products. Unlike the popularity of the Staffordshire slip dots seen on the chamber pots above - this line across the handle provides a more specific period into when this tankard may have been made possibly placing it as part of production in the mid-eighteenth-century or maybe even earlier.
Slip Line Placed Across the Top of the Handle
A Similar Decoration was used on Products Known as Astbury Ware in England
The Astbury Decoration was Popular in the 1730s through the 1750's
Photo Courtesy: Hollis Brodrick Antiques - Portsmouth, NH
Close Up of the Slip Line Across the Handle
Photo Courtesy: Hollis Brodrick Antiques - Portsmouth, NH
Here are a few more pictures of characteristics seen on this tankard - seen below is the footed base, the actual base and the interior of the tankard.
View of the Tankard's Foot
Photo Courtesy: Hollis Brodrick Antiques - Portsmouth, NH
View of the Base
Photo Courtesy: Hollis Brodrick Antiques - Portsmouth, NH
View of the Interior
Photo Courtesy: Hollis Brodrick Antiques - Portsmouth, NH
The following two tankards were discovered in a privy at the Three Cranes Tavern in Charlestown, Massachusetts in a mid-eighteenth-century archaeological context. The tavern was originally built as the Great House for Governor John Winthrop in 1630 in the center of town; however, Winthrop did not reside in Charlestown very-long before he moved to Boston. Soon after, the building was converted into Long's Ordinary (ordinary being the Old World word for tavern) - and towards the end of the seventeenth-century, the building became known as the Three Cranes Tavern - a name it kept until it was destroyed at the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775.
This first tankard has a very similar dotted slip decoration as seen on the mug shown above; it is also decorated with two lines of slip around the rim and a single line of slip around the base. This is exactly how the Portsmouth-found tankard is decorated. It is also encouraging to see that the overall form of the tankard found in the privy in Charlestown closely resembles the tankard that was found in Portsmouth more than four decades ago. The question I must ask: Could the Portsmouth-found tankard represent the export system from Charlestown into Portsmouth that is written about in John Parker's daybook kept at Harvard University? It is definitely an interesting theory to consider.
18th Century Slip Decorated Red Earthenware Tankard Found in Charlestown, Ma
Uncovered in a Mid-18th Century Context at the Three Cranes Tavern
Form is Similar to the Tankard Found in a shed in Portsmouth, NH in the Early 1970's
Photo Courtesy: Massachusetts Historical Commission - Boston, Ma
Another View of the Tankard
Tankard Has a Similar Slip Line Decoration as the Tankard Found in Portsmouth, NH
Photo Courtesy: Massachusetts Historical Commission - Boston, Ma
Tankard Has a Similar Slip Dot Decoration as the Tankard Found in Portsmouth, NH
Photo Courtesy: Massachusetts Historical Commission - Boston, Ma
This here is the second tankard excavated from a privy in the same mid-eighteenth-century archaeological context at the Three Cranes Tavern in Charlestown. This tankard shows a similar slip line decoration with two lines around the base and a single line around the rim, which is the complete opposite of the previous two tankards; however, the use of dots in slip is different than that seen on the Portsmouth-found tankard, but the general idea is the same. The overall form of this tankard is also very similar to both of those shown above.
I don't think it would be a stretch to say that these three tankards could all be related. There is certainly many comparable features among them.
18th Century Slip Decorated Red Earthenware Tankard Found in Charlestown, Ma
Uncovered in a Mid-18th Century Context at the Three Cranes Tavern
Form is Similar to the Tankard Found in a shed in Portsmouth, NH in the Early 1970's
Tankard Also Has Slip Dot Decoration Like the Tankard Found in Portsmouth, NH
The Slip Line Decoration is Also Similar to the Tankard Found in Portsmouth, NH
Photo Courtesy: Massachusetts Historical Commission - Boston, Ma
Please Stay Tuned...There will be much more from this collection all week!
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