A Pair of Important Red Earthenware Objects Made in Pennsylvania in 1824 - and, Owned by Historic New England at the Beauport Mansion in Gloucester, Massachusetts

Often, when people, reflect about what Historic New England represents today - a vision, that many individuals may gather in memory is the beautiful - and, immensely important collection assembled by Nina Fletcher Little (and, her husband) at Cogswell's Grant in Essex, Massachusetts. However, the comprehensive collection owned by Historic New England extends much-further than just the Little Collection and the walls of Cogswell Grant. The museum keeps a huge storage facility in Haverhill, Massachusetts, but it also boasts a collection of historic eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth-century real estate throughout New England, which includes, 'Beauport' in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

According to Historic New England, "Beauport, the extraordinary creation of Henry Davis Sleeper (1878-1934), was built between 1907 and 1934 on Eastern Point in Gloucester, Massachusetts. It began conventionally enough as a Queen Ann cottage overlooking the harbor - a comfortable summer retreat for Sleeper, a well-to-do young bachelor from Boston and his widowed mother. But scarcely had the house been finished when Sleeper began to lay plans for expanding it. Over the next twenty-seven years he continually added rooms, each displayed with spectacular displays of objects. At the time of his death, he had literally run out of land on which to build, and Beauport had become a forty-room labyrinth. 

From hallway to dining room, from bedroom to alcove, every room at Beauport is decorated to express a theme. Sometimes the theme was historical, sometimes literary.

After sleeper's death in 1934, Beauport was put up for sale. SPNEA's (later became Historic New England) director, William Sumner Appleton, hoped to acquire the house and its contents for SPNEA. Before this could transpire, Mr. and Mrs. Charles E.F. McCann, who had first seen Beauport while on a yachting trip and had fallen in love with it, purchased the house and the grounds intact. 

In 1937, Mrs. McCann approached SPNEA with the idea of bequeathing the house to the society, but unfortunately, she was taken ill and died before plans could be worked out. Five-years later, however, after the death of their father, the three McCann children - carried out their late parents' wishes and donated the house and its contents to SPNEA (today, Historic New England)."

Also according to Historic New England, "Sleeper amassed an impressive collection of over 250 pieces of redware pottery, much of which, is displayed in two large dressers (on the home's first floor). One particularly charming (slip-decorated and sgraffito) piece is (the following) plate, decorated with a hen and rooster and inscribed on the rim 'ABSALOM BIXLER / TO HIS WIFE SARAH / 1824.' Absalom Bixler was a printer by trade, while his brother, David, was a potter. The inscription was made by pressing letters into the rim of the plate with (printers) type while the clay was still damp."

Also, shown below, is a red earthenware pot decorated with a perched bird on a branch in relief with similar type inscription that reads, 'ABSALOM BIXLER / TO HIS WIFE SARAH / 1824.' This object is also kept at Beauport.

What probably surprises me most about these objects, besides the realization of who they were made for - and, why they were made - is the fact, that these objects, are original to Beauport and Henry Davis Sleeper's collection. How did he acquire such important objects in the early-twentieth-century? The entire history of how these objects were originally discovered and purchased probably fascinates me equally, as-does, the importance that each of these objects possesses today.

19th Century Red Earthenware Dish with Sgraffito, Slip and Stamped Decoration

Made for Absalom Bixler's Wife, Sarah (Bixler)

The Dish is Inscribed, 'ABSALOM BIXLER / TO HIS WIFE SARAH / 1824'

Made in 1824 

Photo Courtesy: Historic New England, Beauport - Gloucester, MA

 A Closer View of the Stamped Inscription, 'ABSALOM BIXLER / TO HIS WIFE SARAH / 1824'

Photo Courtesy: Historic New England, Beauport - Gloucester, MA

Another View of the Hen and Chicken in Slip with Sgraffito Decoration

Photo Courtesy: Historic New England, Beauport - Gloucester, MA

19th Century Red Earthenware Pot with Bird Perched on a Branch in Relief

Made for Absalom Bixler's Wife, Sarah (Bixler)

This Pot Has a Similar Inscription and Type as the Dish Shown Above

Inscribed 'ABSALOM BIXLER / TO HIS WIFE SARAH / 1824'

Made in 1824

Photo Courtesy: Historic New England, Beauport - Gloucester, MA

For more information, about the Bixler family - and, their involvement with the Pennsylvania potter's industry in the nineteenth-century, I suggest, reading an article that Brandt Zipp wrote in 2010 for Crocker Farm's blog, 'Fahrenheit 2300.' The blog can be found through the auction house's website, CrockerFarm.com

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