EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: Colonial New France Pottery - and, the Wares Made in Quebec at the Dion Pottery in the Nineteenth and Twentieth-Centuries

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Colonial New France Pottery - and, the Wares Made in Quebec at the Dion Pottery in the Nineteenth and Twentieth-Centuries

According to the book, 'Early Canadian Pottery' by Donald Webster, "The earliest Euro-Canadian pottery was the small quantity of utility ware produced in New France (later Quebec), largely to alleviate periods of shortage in the supply stream from France. Pottery-making in New France, and even well into the nineteenth-century, was very much a subsidiary occupation which never involved more than a few potters at any given time. Virtually all of the earlier potteries were set up along the banks of the St. Charles or the Lairet, in Charlesbourg, now a suburb just east of Quebec. Pottery-making was a secondary craft even to most of the potters themselves (before 1775 or 1800); it was not by itself an occupation at which one could make a reasonable living.

The existing known pieces of colonial Quebec pottery and the similar imported French types are, as might be expected, virtually identical in form and shape. However, most imported French common utility pottery of the period was densely copper-green glazed over a buff or nearly white earthenware. There is no substantive evidence that any early Quebec-made earthenware was ever green-glazed. The only pieces, however, that we can presently and reliably presume to be of certain Quebec origin are the cruder brown slip lined, translucent lead-glazed, or somewhat green-tinged bowls, all with definitely reddish or red-brown body colors.

In dealing with the pottery of seventeenth and eighteenth-century Quebec, therefore, there are still a great many unanswered questions involved in what could or might have been. This pottery is (considered) quite rare in private or museum collections (today)."

The following green-glazed red earthenware harvest jug was discovered in a junk shop in rural Maine a few years ago - the dealer, who I purchased it from told me it was removed from a barn in Maine. That's the only history he knew; however, after writing this description of the kind of wares that were imported into Quebec in the eighteenth-century, but also, the French influence on the utilitarian pottery that was produced in Quebec during the period - I am now curious to know if this harvest jug is related to Quebec - or, any of the French-made green-glazed products that were imported into Quebec in the eighteenth-century.

Also, shown below is a dark green-glazed red earthenware jar that was discovered in a very-early context in Quebec. It is now owned by the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Ontario. The museum says that it is likely made France - and, it was later imported into Quebec after it was produced intended for the Quebec market in the eighteenth-century; however, the museum hasn't completely ruled out a Quebec potter, either. A comparison of the harvest jug and the jar reveals a very-similar carrying handle.

Possibly 18th Century Green-Glazed French-Made Red Earthenware Harvest Jug

Fits Webster's Description that Defines the Kind of Wares Imported into Quebec in the 1700's

Recently Discovered in a Barn in Maine

Stands 14 1/2" Tall with the Handle

View of the Support Handle

View of the Carrying Handle and the Interior

View of the Base

18th Century Green Glazed Jar Discovered in Quebec in an Early Context

Could be from a French Potter

Circa 1850-1860's

Stands 10 5/8" Tall

Photo Courtesy: Royal Ontario Museum - Toronto, ON

View of the Dark Green Glaze

Photo Courtesy: Royal Ontario Museum - Toronto, ON

Also according to Mr. Webster, "From the beginning of New France until after 1850, a period in excess of two-centuries, it appears that a total of not more than a dozen potters operated in New France and Quebec.

Until the beginnings of the industrial period, effectively 1860, pottery-making in Quebec had changed very little from the French period - however, after 1860, stoneware, yellow-ware and Rockingham ware was all produced in factory settings before any kind of red earthenware production took place.

The last, longest lived, and by far the largest of the earthenware potteries was the Dion factory at Ancienne Lorette (in Quebec). First established by Jean Dion as a small pottery about 1855, the operation grew slowly, and a brother, Antoine Dion took over the business about 1870. The factory during the next few decades produced a great range of utility wares, ethnically French even at this late date, made from local red-firing clay, but (the pottery) also drew on the new technology to produce red earthenware molded and slip-cast wares. The Dions at one time or another turned out just about everything that could be produced in red earthenware, including some superb special and experimental pieces (see the jardiniere below).

Antoine Dion's four sons joined the firm at various times in later years and managed it and a subsidiary pottery until the business closed in 1918.

Pottery emerged from the Dion factories in vast quantity, and is still found in Quebec antique shops (today)"

The following molded red-earthenware pitcher was not discovered in an antique shop in Quebec; however, it was found about three-hundred-miles south of where the Dion Pottery was located in a vintage-type shop in Laconia, New Hampshire. I have always been curious to know whether this pitcher was made in Canada seeing that it doesn't appear to be an American-made product; although, it doesn't appear (to me) to be European in origin, either. Honestly, the glaze on this pitcher appears very similar to a jardiniere that is shown below that is attributed to the Dion Pottery by the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.

Map Showing the 309 Mile Distance Between the Dion Pottery in Quebec and Laconia, NH

The Dion Pottery (Ca. 1855-1918) was Located in Ancienne Lorette, QC

Photo Courtesy: MapQuest

19th Century Molded Red Earthenware Pitcher with a Rockingham-Type Glaze

Possibly Related to the Dion Pottery in Ancienne Lorette, QC

Recently Discovered in a Vintage-Type Shop in Downtown Laconia, NH

Stands 7 3/4" Tall

View of the Handle

View of the Base

This is a smaller brown-glazed molded red earthenware pitcher that I discovered in a vintage-type shop in Northwood, New Hampshire about a year ago - and, I now wonder whether it was made at the Dion Pottery in Quebec. It seems to the fit with the type of output that this business was involved with in the nineteenth and early-twentieth-centuries.

Map Showing the 340 Mile Distance Between the Dion Pottery in Quebec and Northwood, NH

The Dion Pottery (Ca. 1855-1918) was Located in Ancienne Lorette, QC

Photo Courtesy: MapQuest

19th Century Brown-Glazed Molded Red Earthenware Pitcher

Possibly Related to the Dion Pottery in Ancienne Lorette, QC

Recently Discovered in a Vintage-Type Shop in Northwood, NH

Stands 4 3/4" Tall

Another View of the Pitcher

View of the Handle

View of the Base

The following pair of late-nineteenth-century molded red earthenware dishes are attributed to the Dion Pottery in Quebec by the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Ontario. Personally, I have seen similar dishes attributed to New England and Pennsylvania before; although, I can not currently prove that similar wares were or were not made in America, too. None-the-less, these dishes are unique - they are entirely glazed including the base. I remember seeing a group of these at a Frank Kaminski Auction in Beverly, Massachusetts a few years back - and, I was stumped as to where they were made. The dishes at the auction came along with a related bowl that according to the Canadian author, Donald Webster, a similar form with a glazed base was also made at the Dion Pottery in the 1870's.

19th Century Molded Red Earthenware Dish Made at the Dion Pottery - Ancienne Lorette, QC

Circa 1880

Stands 1 7/8" Tall

Measures 8 1/8" Wide

Photo Courtesy: Royal Ontario Museum - Toronto, ON

19th Century Molded Red Earthenware Milk Bowl Made at the Dion Pottery - Ancienne Lorette, QC

Circa 1880

Stands 3 1/2" Tall

Measures 12 1/4" in Diameter

Photo Courtesy: Royal Ontario Museum - Toronto, ON

19th Century Red Earthenware Bowls Possibly Made at the Dion Pottery in Ancienne Lorette, QC

These All Appeared at Beverly, MA Auction a Few Years Ago

Circa 1870's or 1880's

Photo Courtesy: Frank Kaminski Auctions - Beverly, MA

Interior of the Bowls

Photo Courtesy: Frank Kaminski Auctions - Beverly, MA

Bases of the Bowls

Photo Courtesy: Frank Kaminski Auctions - Beverly, MA

Here are a few more products that the Royal Ontario Museum attributes to the Dion Pottery - notice the glaze color on the jardiniere and how closely it matches the larger pitcher discussed above that was found in Laconia, New Hampshire.