EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: A Colorful 19th Century Red Earthenware Jug that Recently Emerged in Bristol, Vermont

Friday, February 27, 2015

A Colorful 19th Century Red Earthenware Jug that Recently Emerged in Bristol, Vermont

The travels of antiques over the years can be a mystery for most; for example, how a stoneware crock made in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the turn of the nineteenth-century ended up in rural Maine without an obvious explanation can leave many puzzled. Questions can also arise from how a green glazed red earthenware jug made in southeastern Massachusetts in the early 1800's ended up in North Carolina. From my experiences and from what I have been taught, it can never be taken for granted that since an object was found in a certain location that it was manufactured locally. A number of equations must be taken into account to prove where something was made - and sometimes it does work out proving that an object was in-fact from a local maker; however, there are other instances that can leave one baffled of why an object was found where it was.

A friend of mine alerted me to a wonderful glazed nineteenth-century red earthenware jug recently that I purchased cheaply out of Bristol, Vermont about two-weeks ago. When I first saw the picture, my reaction was that the jug was not made in Vermont, but I did think there was a chance it was made in neighboring Maine. None-the-less, when I looked up Bristol on a map - I noticed that it was located only a few miles north of Middlebury, Vermont, which is a known location today for having employed an important potter's business in the nineteenth-century. Examples of Middlebury-made pottery are represented in a number of museums around the country today. Unfortunately, the glaze and the form of this jug do not match what I would expect to have been made in Middlebury in the 1800's.

When the jug arrived in the mail earlier this week, my initial reaction was that it was not an obvious known Maine form or type of Maine glaze, either. I quickly referred to a number of photos I am fortunate to have from a very-important private collection in western New York that exhibit quite a few known products made in this region in the 1800's. With the exception of William Ketchum's book, Early Potters and Potteries of New York State, there aren't really any good books that completely identify the red earthenware potters of western New York and their detailed output today - so, localized private collections, museum holdings and small museum publications play an important role when trying to identify an object from this area. The form that I just received is a handled jug that can also be perceived as a pot that would have originally possessed a lid. It could have been used for cooking food over an open fire. Sadly, the jug's handle broke off a long time ago. There wasn't necessarily a reason to panic when this happened because the jug could have easily been repurposed into a storage jar. I assume that is what happened and why this pot has survived in the condition it is in today rather than having been deposited into a privy or a trash area years ago. The handle may have been necessary for when the pot was hot from the contents inside, but minus the handle, there were still many purposes the pot could have served around the common American country-style kitchen.

I carefully examined the jug's form and what I have found is that it is very-similar to a few lidded jars with a similar ovoid form in the private collection that I just cited. The glaze is also similar to other known western New York forms such as pitchers, jars and traditional jugs. I cannot be a hundred-percent sure this is a western New York product, but that's how it appears to me. Its difficult to suggest an actual attribution (i.e. city, town, business, potter) since there is so much left to be learned about this region today (and possibly why a complete book devoted exclusively to the red earthenware of this area hasn't been published, yet), but this would be my best guess as to where this jug originated from.

Now the big question: How did this colorful pot travel hundreds of miles that spanned mountain ranges from western New York into north central Vermont? Your guess is as good as mine! I'm sure the theories can get pretty creative!

Map Showing Bristol, Vt and the Western New York Red Earthenware Potter's Region

Photo Courtesy: Google Maps

The pot stands just about nine-and-one-half inches tall. There are three colors of glaze seen; however, only the gold or rust and raspberry colors are the glazes that photographed well. There are also slight traces of green seen. I've said it before - I really believe that western New York is one of the most attractive regions today for the red earthenware that was produced in the nineteenth-century. Its also not surprising that this area's wares are sometimes mistaken for products made in Maine in the 1800's and likewise, Maine products are sometimes mistaken for western New York wares; both of these states are known for its daring colorful glazes today that for some reason shared similar styles and glaze ideas despite the huge gap that separated the two states.