The most interesting facet about the Paige Pottery to me is the fact that Paige manufactured traditional utilitarian kitchen and garden wares in a period when most of the potter's industry in New England had altered its appearance to correspond with the art potter's movement. The need and decline of utilitarian pottery saw a demand that continued to drop year-after-year with the birth of the Industrial Revolution and that progression appeared to continue as the twentieth-century drew near. Products made out of alternative materials really helped phase out the need of utilitarian red earthenware in New England - especially in urban areas like parts of Essex County, Massachusetts; however, it is surprising to me that the Paige Pottery was able to bend this mold and manufacture products like pitchers, jugs and crocks to go along with a fine line of floral and garden wares in the 1880's moving onward into the twentieth-century.
Yesterday, I met with Boston City Archaeologist, Joe Bagley and Massachusetts potter and scholar, Rick Hamelin at the Boston Archaeology Lab in West Roxbury, Massachusetts. Naturally, we discussed in-detail the Charlestown, Massachusetts Archaeology Collection that contains a huge assemblage of that town's potter's industry prior to the Battle of Bunker Hill taking place on June 17, 1775. We also discussed the Faneuil Hall Archaeology Collection that dates before 1742, but we also branched off examining products made in places like New Hampshire and Essex County in the 1800's. The talk about Essex County caused me to open a number of files on my computer when I got home from the red earthenware collection kept at the Peabody, Massachusetts Historical Society. I was merely curious; however, when I opened a specific picture something clicked when I saw a lidded pitcher with a metallic glaze attribution to the Paige Pottery; I thought to myself, "You know, I have two red earthenware vases in my cellar that I have always wondered where they were made with a very similar metallic glaze." I have shown these vases to knowledgeable people from North Carolina, Kentucky and all-over New England, but I have never garnered an accurate attribution that I was completely satisfied with. In-fact, I have never really found any helpful information. Furthermore, as I discussed my confusion about the output from the Paige Pottery above - I began to wonder if this business could also have made a line of artware that has never been identified before - and could these vases belong to a possible lost line of production today from Moses Paige and his coworkers. If an attribution was only based on glaze - I think there is a strong case to be had for all of the following pots you are about to see with a metallic glaze.
A fact I can state with certainty is that Paige and Charles A. Lawrence (surname: Solares) were both employed at the Joseph Reed Pottery in Peabody; although, neither were employed together. In 1866, Lawrence left for neighboring Beverly, Massachusetts, where he began a utilitarian company, which later incredibly adapted to the art potter's movement with an amazing variety of skilled products. Paige eventually purchased the Joseph Reed Pottery and established his own business. Could Paige have also made a line of decorative products to go along with what is already known of his production today? I would not be shocked to learn if he did make artware considering he may have had a close relationship with Charles A. Lawrence since both were successful business owners in the same area. Lawrence's success may have inspired him to do so.
Moses Paige Pottery Lidded Red Earthenware Pitcher - Peabody, Mass.
Glazed in an Unusual Metallic Color
Ca. Late 1870's to Early 20th Century
Photo Courtesy: Peabody Historical Society - Peabody, Mass.
Moses Paige Pottery Tin Sign
Photo Courtesy: Peabody Historical Society - Peabody, Mass.
I think it also compelling to show this photo of the traveling potter, Edwin A. Rich working at the potter's wheel at the Paige Pottery reportedly in 1905. He appears to possibly be throwing a vase, which is fascinating since Rich had previously created products that included vases at Charles A. Lawrence's business in the 1890's before he went to work for Moses Paige in the twentieth-century. The row of "green" crocks or crocks that have not been fired yet seen directly behind him is proof of the utilitarian production that was still happening at the Paige Pottery in the early-twentieth-century.
Edwin A. Rich at the Potter's Wheel at the Moses Paige Pottery in Peabody, Mass.
The Photo Was Reportedly Taken in 1905
It Appears Rich is Turning a Vase
Rich Previously Worked at the Paige Pottery in the 1890's
Photo Courtesy: Early New England Potters and Their Wares, Watkins, Harvard U., 1950
Both of the following Grecian-style vases were found locally in New England; the handled vase shown on the left was discovered in a thrift shop on the Maine seacoast near Ogunquit a few years ago - and the other vase (right), was found in a group shop on Route 4 in Northwood, New Hampshire. Previously, I have pondered the idea if these vases could have been made at the Merrimac Pottery Company in the late 1890's in Newburyport, Massachusetts by the company's founder, Thomas Nickerson who actually made molds from authentic Roman pots at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in the 1890's; however, I own a very rare example of Nickerson's molded ancient-style work - and these two vases do not correspond with that output. To begin, both of these vases are completely hand-thrown so that pretty-much throws out the idea that they could be a Newburyport Grecian-style product from that short-lived line of output since they are not molded.
Now with all that said - there is a striking resemblance in the glaze on both of these vases when compared to the lidded pitcher shown above owned by the Peabody Historical Society attributed to the Paige Pottery. It is the only characteristic I can really tie between the pots, but it is also a very-rare glaze that I have not seen before outside of these three pots. At the very-least, this all seems suspicious to me for a discussion. I have zero doubt that these two vases are American-made.
Similar Glazed Red Earthenware Pots Found in NH and Maine a Few Years Ago
Both Share Similar Metallic Glazes When Compared to the Paige Pottery Pitcher Shown Above
Hand-Thrown Red Earthenware Handled Vase with a Metallic Glaze
The Form Appears Like a Grecian Style
Stands 8" Tall
Found on the Maine Seacoast a Few Years Ago
The Form Appears Like a Grecian Style
Stands 8" Tall
Found on the Maine Seacoast a Few Years Ago
Hand-Thrown Red Earthenware Vase with a Metallic Glaze
The Form Appears Like a Grecian Style
Stands 8" Tall
Found in a Group Shop in Northwood, NH a Few Years Ago
The Form Appears Like a Grecian Style
Stands 8" Tall
Found in a Group Shop in Northwood, NH a Few Years Ago
Since we are on the discussion of red earthenware products owned by the Peabody Historical Society - I would like to show this incredible eighteenth-century pot. It is believed to have originally served a tobacco need before it was later converted into a large butter churn. The potter responsible is not currently known today even though I firmly believe the pot was made somewhere in the Essex County area possibly around the mid-eighteenth-century. The pot may have been made in Salem or South Danvers (today known as Peabody); although, given the amount of potters who worked in the area in the 1700's - it makes for a difficult task in developing a true identity for this pot without any archaeological evidence or sherds from a specific potter's site. Despite all of that, the pot is still an incredible survivor. There were originally two carrying handles. Unfortunately, only one of those handles remains today. The pot also features straight and wavy incised lines, which is an atypical characteristic to any specific potter's business in Essex County - even though there are a number of surviving examples attributed to Essex County today with this type of work. There are reportedly two other pots similar to this one owned by museums elsewhere in Massachusetts; nonetheless, I have not seen those pots, yet. This pot is also pictured in Lura Woodside Watkins important book, Early New England Potters and Their Wares.
18th Century Red Earthenware Double Handled Pot
May Have Originally Served a Need for Tobacco
Likely Manufactured Locally in the Salem and Peabody, Mass. Area
Photo Courtesy: Peabody Historical Society - Peabody, Mass.
This is the Same Pot Pictured in Early New England Potters and Their Wares
Photo Courtesy: Early New England Potters and Their Wares, Watkins, Harvard U., 1950
For the mere sake of curiosity, this lidded pot (back middle) appeared at a Tim Gould Auction in Augusta Maine in 2011. It bears a similar glaze, similar incised decoration and it also retains two original lug handles or carrying handles. I believe it was made somewhere in New England in the early nineteenth-century, but whether it is from Massachusetts, New Hampshire or elsewhere it is not completely known. I perceive this pot as an attractive example of utilitarian pottery in a rare form that is rarely seen today. I don't know where it ended up after the sale because I did not bid at this auction, but I assume it now resides in a private collection since I have not seen it appear on the antique show circuit.
(Back Middle) Early 19th Century Lidded Pot Similar to the Example Shown Above
Any Relationship Between the Two Pots is Not Known
The Decorations, Forms and Glazes Seem Similar
Photo Courtesy: Tim Gould Auctions - Augusta and Smithfield, Me
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
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