EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: A Red Earthenware Jug Found Last Week in Brimfield, Massachusetts Compared to a Jug Owned by Historic New England

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

A Red Earthenware Jug Found Last Week in Brimfield, Massachusetts Compared to a Jug Owned by Historic New England

When I visited Historic New England's storage facility in Haverhill, Massachusetts, a little more than a year ago, I remember seeing a strange formed large colorful red earthenware jug in the museum's collection. It was kept on a metal shelf with the rest of Historic New England's pottery collection that is not on display in a historic home in New England. Instead, it is kept in a large temperature controlled room in an old brick industrial building built in the nineteenth-century in the downtown area of Haverhill. According to the information, kept on-hand - the jug is believed to have been made in Maine.

The late, Margaret H. Jewell donated the jug to the museum along with a considerable amount of her antiques collection, which also included many examples of New England-made red earthenware. This particular jug was in a form that has always stood out to me as unique, but also very interesting. A few obvious questions that surround this jug (for me): Why was such a form made? What was its purpose? Was the unusual form strictly ornamental or did this form serve some kind of functional purpose?

If you, recall, last week, I purchased a large brown-glazed red earthenware jug from a married couple, who are antique dealers and interior designers based in southern coastal Maine and Park City, Utah.

I acquired the jug, last week, at the antique shows in Brimfield, Massachusetts, when I stumbled upon their tent in one of the fields that opened early on Tuesday morning. The couple said they had just removed the jug from an old home in Augusta, Maine. I was really captured by the unusual form, the skill and the beautiful combed decoration that adorned the upper-half of the jug.

This jug, is basically, undoubtedly, produced by the same potter, who produced the jug that I just previously described, which is owned by Historic New England in Haverhill.

I had suggested, in a report, I wrote last week, that the jug I found in Brimfield, may have been a late-eighteenth-century (circa 1780-1820) product; however, after studying the object, I feel the jug is more likely from the 1800 to 1840's period.

The form of both jugs is definitely odd. It appears like a second neck and rim was placed on top of the original neck and rim. It is certainly possible that this was an experimental form - or, a rarely produced form by a particular country potter in Maine. It appears (to me) that the potter may have applied the second rim and neck to compensate for the idea that the jug may eventually suffer some kind of damage during the course of its use - and, the initial rim and neck could have been used in case that type of damage happened. It should also be taken into consideration where the handle is attached, which is seen on the first rim - rather, than up above on the top of the jug. However, there is also the chance that this form was inspired after an older form found on some continental European pottery from centuries prior.

I can not say exactly where these jugs were made, but the idea that the jug I found in Brimfield was recently discovered in an old home in Augusta may suggest these jugs may have been made by a potter in Kennebec County, Maine. There are many known potters, who were employed in Maine in the 1800's; however, I don't believe that all of the potter's are known today. These jugs may be an example of a potter, who is rarely known (or, not known) today - or, they may even be a product-style that hasn't been identified with any specific potter in Maine. Either way, these jugs are a very-interesting form that is rarely seen anywhere in New England today.