An Orange Glazed Red Earthenware Covered Dish Discovered in Maine that May Date from the Eighteenth-Century

A small handful of nice discoveries were made last weekend when I traveled the New England seacoast between Rowley, Massachusetts and Portland, Maine. With the blizzard of 2015 affecting some of the people who may read this report, I thought over the next few days, I would show some of the pottery I discovered while on this trip. The example I am going to show in this morning's report, gives off an eighteenth-century feeling - even-though, I am not positive whether it was really manufactured in the eighteenth or early-nineteenth-century.

The ensuing hand-thrown red earthenware lidded dish was found inside a vintage group shop a few miles north of Kennebunkport, Maine. This particular dealer's space was almost entirely filled with utilitarian pottery from a random number of places and periods. Most of it appeared to date from the nineteenth and twentieth-centuries. The particular piece that I am writing about today, appeared older than anything else this dealer had to offer - and importantly, all of the material in this dealer's space was reportedly found in Maine.

My initial reaction when I saw this dish was that it was American-made. When I looked it over, I noticed the lid was glazed on both sides, which is a characteristic I have seen on lidded dishes from the eighteenth-century in Massachusetts and elsewhere outside of the region; however, I also noticed the dish itself was hand-thrown by the potter and so wasn't the lid. The overall form really translates into the skill of whoever this potter was. The base of the dish is mostly unglazed, with small traces of what I describe as an "accidental" glaze randomly seen on the bottom. The handles are also quite nice. Overall, this lidded dish is decorated with a clear interior and exterior orange lead glaze.

On the lid, there is a small trace of slip decoration that was likely accidentally splattered by the potter or decorator, but this is also important to understand - considering this pot was likely produced by someone who used slip decoration on their products. It's in my opinion that slip decoration was used more in Pennsylvania than anywhere else in America in the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries - and I attempt to make a comparison with this dish to known Pennsylvania products shown below.

 Late 18th or Early 19th Century Lidded Dish 

Recently Found in a Vintage Shop on the Maine Seacoast South of Portland, Me

Ca. 1780-1820

Stands 6 1/2" Tall with Lid
Measures 9 1/2" Wide from Handle-to-Hanle

 View of One of the Handles

 View from Under One of the Handles

 View of the Top of the Hand-Thrown Lid
Notice the Drop of Slip Just Below the Knob

A Better View of the Drop of Slip
This Suggests that the Potter May Have Worked with Slip

 View of the Interior of the Hand-Thrown Lid

 View of the Interior of the Hand-Thrown Dish with a View of Both Handles

 View of the Sloped Sides

Notice the Nicely Incised Line Placed Just Below the Rim

View of the Base with Some Traces of "Accidental" Glaze

As I continued to look at this dish while in the shop, I imagined it without its handles and its lid - this vision left me with a form that reminded me of some stoneware spittoons made in Pennsylvania in the nineteenth-century. Here is an example that Crocker Farm, Inc. in Sparks, Maryland attributes to possibly Philadelphia (Pennsylvania); you will see this spittoon has similar sides that slope inward like the dish above. If you continue to compare these forms further, you will see the dish has an incised line for decoration that was placed just below the rim. The spittoon has a similar decoration; however, its incised line (lines) is placed around the base.

Stoneware Spittoon with Cobalt Flower Decoration

Probably Made in Philadelphia, Pa

Measures 4" Tall and 8" Wide

Ca. 1870

Photo Courtesy: Crocker Farm, Inc. Sparks, Md

Here is a red earthenware mug that is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Pennsylvania that shows similar sloped in sides. The museum attributes the mug to Bucks County, Pennsylvania from the early to mid-nineteenth-century. This museum also owns a small number of lidded bowls as part of its Pennsylvania-German Collection; I have seen these bowls and the idea behind some of them does remind me of the idea behind the lidded dish shown above.

Early 19th Century Red Earthenware Mug Likely Made in Bucks County, Pa

Stands 2 1/4" Tall

Ca. 1800-1840

Photo Courtesy: Philadelphia Museum of Art - Philadelphia, Pa

This is another example of a red earthenware product with sloped in sides attributed to Pennsylvania; shown here is what is described as an early nineteenth-century red earthenware measure that may have been used to weigh ingredients in the kitchen. This picture was taken from the book, Early American Folk Pottery written by Harold F. Guilland and published in 1950. 

Early 19th Century Drawing of a Red Earthenware Measure Attributed to Pennsylvania

Stands 4 1/2" Tall

Ca. Early 1800s

Photo Courtesy: Early American Folk Pottery, Guilland, 1950, Chilton Book Company

While I have no definitive attribution for the covered dish of discussion - I do feel a Pennsylvania attribution is possible based on the overall form, use and glaze of the dish. Tomorrow, I will discuss another fabulous find I made while on my picking trip last weekend.

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