A Newly Purchased Red Earthenware Jar with Ties to Jars Owned by Historic New England and Historic Deerfield in Massachusetts

Yesterday, I took a break from my job in Newton, Massachusetts around noon to drive west to Sturbridge, Massachusetts to purchase a colorful red earthenware jar that Massachusetts collector, dealer and writer, Kris Casucci had for sale. She told me the jar was originally discovered near the New Hampshire and Maine border. The jar is beautiful! I have seen similar jars attributed to the potteries in Exeter, New Hampshire, where there were at least fifteen potters employed in the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries. There were also apprentices, possibly enslaved potters and potters, who have not yet been identified to this area today. In fact, the Nina Fletcher Little Collection at Cogswell's Grant in Essex Massachusetts owns a very-similar example.  According to the museum - the jar is 'original to Cogswell's Grant.' The museum also states that the jar was likely made in either Massachusetts or New Hampshire. There were also related forms made elsewhere in Northern New England in places like Vermont.

Historic Deerfield in Deerfield, Massachusetts also owns a related example - according to the museum, "Jars are generally distinguished from pots and crocks by their smaller openings and mouths. Most earlier types were somewhat ovoid, but 18th-century straight sided jars are known. Whatever the body form, the jar will have a pronounced lip (to facilitate sealing it with a piece of cloth or oil paper). Some examples have turned inner ledges on which matching lids rested...On the bottom of this jar written in pencil is, 'Col. W. Millbury / Mass. / 1920 (or 1930)." This jar was brokered into Historic Deerfield a few years ago as part of the William T. Brandon Memorial Collection of American Redware and Ceramics; however, it is also believed that it originally belonged to Burton N. Gates, who was another prominent New England collector.

Historic New England Jar

19th Century Red Earthenware Lidded Jar from Either Massachusetts or New Hampshire

Stands 11 1/4" Tall

Ca. 1800-1850

Photo Courtesy: Historic New England - Boston & Essex, Mass

Historic Deefield, Massachusetts Jar

19th Century Red Earthenware Lidded Jar Attributed to Exeter, NH

Stands 10 5/8" Tall

Ca. 1840-1860

Photo Courtesy: Historic Deerfield - Deerfield, Mass

This is a nineteenth-century Vermont example of this form attributed by the Vermont History Center in Barre, Vermont. Unfortunately, the museum does not define a specific area or maker for the jar.

19th Century Red Earthenware Jar Attributed to Vermont

Stands Approximately 9" to 11" Tall

Ca. 1820-1860

Photo Courtesy: Jim Steinhart & Vermont History Center - Barre, VT

This is the jar I purchased from Kris - you will see that it is very-similar in form to the jars owned by Historic New England and Historic Deerfield. There are also similarities in the height of the jar and the color of the glaze.

 19th Century New England-Made Red Earthenware Jar

Stands 11 1/8" Tall

Ca. 1800-1840

Purchased Yesterday in Sturbridge, Mass

 View of the Side and One Handle

 View of the Interior

View of the Base 

I now own a collection of three of these jars - you can see below that they all slightly vary in form, but there are also strong similarities that can be found. Exeter employed a potter's industry in the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries - and, due to the number of potters employed in the city may account for why these forms all vary, but, on the contrary different areas may also be represented in this small collection. I am rather confident that the jar on the left was made in Exeter.

Collection of Three Related Jars 

All Originally Found in the New Hampshire and Essex County, Mass-Areas

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