EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: Black Glazed Earthenware Imported Into America in the 18th and 19th Centuries

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Black Glazed Earthenware Imported Into America in the 18th and 19th Centuries

Black-glazed wares were not only a commodity produced and duplicated by the early American utilitarian red earthenware potters - it was also an English decorated product manufactured at businesses that was eventually imported into the American colonies and later, the American states in the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries. I personally find the country-style thickly potted black-glazed wares manufactured in the Buckley, England (North Wales) region to be among the most fascinating black-glazed English-made subjects to discuss today. These black decorated wares were not necessarily viewed as the most beautiful objects to everyone during the period; however, I personally enjoy these kinds of wares, which have been discovered in early-eighteenth-century archaeological contexts at Faneuil Hall in Boston (before 1742), eighteenth-century contexts in New York City and even in an eighteenth-century context at George Washington's home in Mount Vernon, Virginia.

According to Prifysgol Aberystwyth Univeristy in England; "The area around Buckley has been associated with the production of pottery from the medieval period up to the closure of the last pottery in 1946. The most productive time was from the late-seventeenth-century through the late-eighteenth-century although there was still an extensive market for Buckley slipware in the nineteenth-century. Characteristics of Buckley ware are all kinds of large (hand) thrown storage vessels for household and dairy use along with press moulded baking dishes with bold slip decoration. Towards the end of the nineteenth-century with the decline in the market for brown household pottery the potters diversified and produced more small decorative pieces."

Map Shows Buckley, England

Photo Courtesy: Google Maps

What I find especially appealing about these wares today, unlike some potters, who's products evolved over the years, the large black-glazed Buckey wares typically remained with similar production standards through the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries. Theoretically, some American potters may have found inspiration from these kinds of imported black-glazed wares for their own production that used a similar colored glaze in the 1700's and 1800's.

19th Century Buckley, England Black-Glazed Earthenware Jug

Ca. 1880

Stands 9" Tall

Photo Courtesy: Tim Bowen Antiques - Ferryside Carmarthenshire Wales, England

Large 19th Century Buckley, England Black-Glazed Earthenware Storage Jar

Stands 10 1/2" Tall

Photo Courtesy: Hiscock & Shepherd Antiques - Gloucester, England

Large 19th Century Buckley, England Black-Glazed Earthenware Cistern

Stands 17" Tall

Photo Courtesy: Hiscock & Shepherd Antiques - Gloucester, England

When the Buckley wares traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to maritime cities located on the eastern seaboard in America - they were likely removed from the ships they traveled aboard - and placed into the hands of merchants, who then sold the pottery to local consumers. The Buckley potters were supposedly located strategically for an export business, which was a focus for many of the potters who worked in this area; "The businesses in Buckley were located in a good geographic location for transporting its wares by sea. Pots from the many Buckley potteries were carried in horse drawn trucks in the countryside before they were loaded at the docks onto ships." The exported wares were then shipped to their destination to places such as America - where they may have transitioned from a boat into the the inventory of a shop run by an English loyalist (maybe even an agent) before the American Revolution - or, it may have been more simple like an American merchant, who purchased a wholesale order of Buckley ware to sell in their shop to the local community. Ideally, there were a number of possibilities that could have taken place. It was this kind of production, transportation, trade and commerce that brought a variety of imported goods into America in the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries.

This following black-glazed earthenware teapot is a perfect example of how English-born products were sold to the consumer (similar to the Buckley wares) in America. The pot is hand-thrown; however, the decoration on the exterior was done by machine, which is a technique rarely seen with American potters, when compared to the amount of production accomplished by their counterparts in England. However, what is fascinating about this particular piece is the base is stamped by the English-based merchant or proprietor, James M. Shaw & Co., who sold this teapot in New York City. The firm operated a wholesale business in England - all-while overseeing a sister wholesale business in New York City. It was genius marketing and a wonderful strategy exporting products made in England to America.

I purchased this teapot from Cape Cod antique dealer, Brian Cullity a few years ago after seeing an exact teapot with the same merchant mark in a prominent private collection in Connecticut. I vividly remember emailing a picture of this teapot to this specific collector, scholar and writer just after I had purchased it; he was stunned - he told me this was only the second teapot that he had ever seen that was stamped with the James M. Shaw & Co. mark. He thought he owned the only example known. For obvious reasons, I couldn't resist - I had to have it.

I haven't been able to uncover much information about the company, James M. Shaw & Co.; although, the little information I have been able to find, reveals the company operated as a wholesale distributor in New York City from circa 1870 until 1936. The firm reportedly manufactured dinnerware (i.e. ceramics, silver, etc.) for many businesses that included steamship companies, restaurants and hotels. Incredibly, James M. Shaw & Co. was responsible for the dinnerware (dishes) supplied to the S.S. Titanic just before it made its maiden voyage on April 10, 1912. While I don't have strong proof of it - I assume the firm handled mostly (if not entirely) English-made products. My brief research only exposes products that were made in England in late-nineteenth and twentieth-centuries, but I can not be sure of how James M. Shaw & Co.'s entire inventory appeared for more than sixty-five-years.