Friday, June 26, 2015

The Maritime Wares Produced in Canada in the Nineteenth-Century

According to the book, 'Early Canadian Pottery,' "The Maritime provinces of Canada - New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island - and, for the purposes of this book, Newfoundland - are the one area of Canada, where the evident earliest pottery did not correspond to the period of the early settlement. 

The earliest confirmed commercial potter in the Maritimes appears to have been John Thomas, at Portland, New Brunswick, who was in business and advertising by 1814.

Nearly all of the Maritime pottery consisted of dense red earthenware containers and utility wares. While Maritime potters produced a variety of wares - they could not economically produce nearly as great a variety of wares as the Ontario earthenware industry (see previous reports from this week).

Most of the nineteenth-century potters in the Maritimes, and there was no great number of them, were English in origin and training. The earthenware of this area shows a characteristically English heavy use of white tin glazes, or white slips under glaze. Thus milk bowls, made in all sizes, are typically coated completely with white slip or glaze on the interiors, while exteriors are left unglazed. Covered jars and crocks are likewise often lined with white, and pitchers, though perhaps less often, still commonly so.

The largest and most important pottery in the Maritimes was that of Joseph White, who in 1861 left his pottery factory in Bristol, England, for St. John, New Brunswick, and produced not earthenware, but stoneware, finished with white ball-slip rather than salt-glaze, as was then becoming standard in England.

Occasionally, Maritime potters used white slip purely for decorative lines and motifs, again in the English (and by, derivation, American) manner. This technique is virtually unknown on other Canadian potter (although, the Ontario potters occasionally applied brown or green slips)."

Truthfully, a number of these kind of wares are found in northern New England today - and, they are sometimes mistaken for products produced in Maine in the 1800's. Honestly, I can see why they could be mistaken for a Maine-made product, too - seeing, that a number of Maritime wares have been found in very-early contexts along the coast of Maine that regularly date back to the nineteenth-century. Was there a small export system into Maine or did these wares merely travel south from Canada? That's a question that I have, yet to research, but I assume there is an argument for both scenarios especially considering that a number of the Maritime-made wares were produced after the pique of Maine's red earthenware industry had eclipsed.

I would estimate that the most common attribution argued for a Maine-made product are typically brown-glazed lidded jars that are adorned with a slip glazed interior - instead, these should be considered a product likely produced in Nova Scotia in the second-half of the nineteenth-century. Shown below are two examples (non-lidded) with this type of glaze.

Here is a link to this object on the Royal Ontario Museum website.

19th Century Brown-Glazed Red Earthenware Jar with a Slip Glazed Interior
Probably Produced in Nova Scotia in the Late-19th Century
The Potter is Not Identified
Stands 10 1/4" Tall
Circa 1880
Photo Courtesy: Royal Ontario Museum - Toronto, ON
Another View of the Jar and One of the Handles
Photo Courtesy: Royal Ontario Museum - Toronto, ON

Here is a link to this object on the Royal Ontario Museum website.

19th Century Brown-Glazed Red Earthenware Jar with a Slip Glazed Interior
Probably Produced in Nova Scotia in the Late-19th Century
The Potter is Not Identified
Stands 8 3/8" Tall
Circa 1880
Photo Courtesy: Royal Ontario Museum - Toronto, ON

According to the blog, 'Prince Edward Island Pottery,' "The Prince Edward Island Pottery was established by Oswald Hornsby (English origin) on the outskirts of Charlottetown in the early 1880's - and, following its closure in 1898, all of the structures and the buildings were demolished in 1903. During its eighteen-year operation, the pottery produced the greatest range of (red) earthenware forms yet established to any Maritime's pottery, and the only marked wares known (today). The site of the Prince Edward Island Pottery was excavated by Donald Webster of the Royal Ontario Museum in 1970, in conjunction with historical research and a survey of its surviving products."

The red earthenware produced on Prince Edward Island are prized objects today - especially, the forms that are stamped with the business' name; although, these are also products that could be mistaken for Maine-made pottery and arguably New Hampshire-made products, too. I firmly believe this confusion is possibly related to glaze techniques found on these wares that are comparable to some known Maine glazes today and, even glazes that were used elsewhere in New England. For example, the following one-gallon jug is marked with the 'PEI / POTTERY' stamp; however, a very-rare, but similar speckled brown-glaze was also applied in the early nineteenth-century at the William Pecker Pottery (circa 1790-1820) in northeastern Massachusetts.

Here is a link to this object on the Royal Ontario Museum website.

Late-19th 1-Gallon Century Prince Edward Island Pottery Red Earthenware Jug - Charlottetown, PEI
Circa 1880-1898
Stands 10 1/4" Tall
Photo Courtesy: Royal Ontario Museum - Toronto, ON
Another View of the Jug
Photo Courtesy: Royal Ontario Museum - Toronto, ON
View of the '1 G. (Gallon)' Stamp
Photo Courtesy: Royal Ontario Museum - Toronto, ON
View of the 'PEI / POTTERY' Stamp
Photo Courtesy: Royal Ontario Museum - Toronto, ON

The Prince Edward Island Pottery, also produced very-English looking products that are comparable to what a number of the country-style potters were producing in England during the period. This is understandable seeing Horsnby's English background. Personally, I tend to view the wares made in the Maritime region of Canada as an extension of the New England potter's industry; however, outside of the Connecticut potter's market - slip decoration was not part of the regular production standard at any potter's business in New England in the nineteenth-century, but in places like Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island - wares were regularly decorated with white slip. Honestly, I have seen similar objects, like this bowl shown below - and, I have always assumed they were made in England.


Here is a link to this object on the Royal Ontario Museum website.

 Late-19th Century Prince Edward Island Pottery Large Red Earthenware Bowl - Charlottetown, PEI
Circa 1880-1898
Stands 12 3/8" Tall
Photo Courtesy: Royal Ontario Museum - Toronto, ON
View of the Slip Decoration
Photo Courtesy: Royal Ontario Museum - Toronto, ON

Here are a group of products, also made at the Prince Edward Island Pottery (circa 1880-1898) that were taken from the blog, 'Prince Edward Island Pottery.' These pictures show the variety of wares that were made at this business - I can see all of these forms mistaken for American-made products.

 Prince Edward Island Pottery Stamp
Circa 1880-1898
 Late-19th Century Prince Edward Island Pottery Cake Crock - Charlottetown, PEI
Circa 1880-1898
The Word, 'CAKE' is Written in Slip
 Late-19th Century Prince Edward Island Pottery Pitchers - Charlottetown, PEI
Circa 1880-1898
  Late-19th Century Prince Edward Island Pottery Pitcher - Charlottetown, PEI
Circa 1880-1898
 Late-19th Century Prince Edward Island Pottery Jugs - Charlottetown, PEI
Circa 1880-1898

The following slip decorated red earthenware dish is courtesy of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Ontario - the dish is said to have been made in Canada in the nineteenth-century; however, it appears English in influence (or origin). None-the-less, if this is indeed, a Canadian-made object, the most likeliest scenario is that it was made in the Maritime region in the late-1800's. Personally, I come across these kind of objects occasionally in New England - and, I usually assume, without hesitation, that they were made by a country potter in England in the 1800's. However, after studying some of the material owned by the Royal Ontario Museum - I will now likely consider a Canadian or an English potter as a maker for these kind of wares (granted that this kind of material was made in Canada by English trained potters in the nineteenth-century).

Here is a link to this object on the Royal Ontario Museum website.

19th Century Brown-Glazed Slip Decorated Red Earthenware Dish
Said to Have Been Made in Canada (Possibly by a Maritime Potter)
The Potter is Not Identified
Stands 3 1/4" Tall
Measures 18 1/2" Wide
Circa 1880
Photo Courtesy: Royal Ontario Museum - Toronto, ON

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

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