EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: A Wonderful Cobalt Glazed Red Earthenware Jar Acquired Today that was Made at the Frey Pottery in Pennsylvania - and, Related to an Object Owned by the American Folk Art Museum in New York City

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

A Wonderful Cobalt Glazed Red Earthenware Jar Acquired Today that was Made at the Frey Pottery in Pennsylvania - and, Related to an Object Owned by the American Folk Art Museum in New York City

I also wanted to include that after writing today's report about the Frey family pottery in rural Pennsylvania that I was able to acquire a jar, this afternoon, that is nearly identical to the jar which is owned by the American Folk Art Museum in New York City. The museum's jar was discussed in an article titled 'Blue' by Stacy C. Hollander written for the Fall 2004 edition of the museum's quarterly magazine, 'Folk Art: Magazine of the Folk Art Museum'. The article discusses the significance of the color blue in the history of American decorative arts - the Frey Pottery red earthenware jar is pictured next to a massively important cobalt decorated stoneware punch bowl made in New York City by John Crolius, Jr. (1755-c. 1835) in 1811. Furthermore, the article mentions how the blue glaze seen on the Frey jar is a color that is regularly seen on stoneware - however, it is rarely found on any red earthenware today.

Pages 42-43 from the 2004 Edition of 'Folk Art: Magazine of the Folk Art Museum'

Frey Pottery Jar Seen in the Upper Left on Page 42

Crolius Stoneware Bowl Seen in the Lower Right on Page 42

Photo Courtesy: American Folk Art Museum - New York City

19th Century Stoneware Punch Bowl

Made by John Crolius, Jr. in New York City

The Bowl is Inscribed 'Elizabeth Crane'

The Bowl is Also Dated '1811'

Stands 7 3/4" Tall

Measures 15 1/2" in Diameter

Photo Courtesy: American Folk Art Museum - New York City

19th Century Red Earthenware Jar with Cobalt Glaze

Made at the Frey Pottery in Washington, Township, PA

Pictured in the Fall 2004 American Folk Art Museum Magazine

Reportedly Circa 1810-1846 - Could Also be Later 19th Century

Stands 11" Tall

Photo Courtesy: American Folk Art Museum - New York City

According to the American Folk Art Museum, "Variegated and iridescent blues resulting from the firing of cobalt glaze on this beautiful wide mouthed jar create a rippling, water effect over its visible turnings. Occasional streaks of pure pigment in the glaze are possibly the result of hand-grinding, which leaves some irregularity in the size of the particles. Cobalt is usually applied as a calligraphic or representational element on American stoneware, and, because of its high expense, was typically used sparingly. Its appearance on a redware clay body is in itself rare; the sheer extravagance of the overall cobalt glaze on the museum's jar is virtually unparalleled.

Little is known about the Frey pottery (today), whose mark is impressed on the base. It was in operation by 1810, when Henry Frey moved onto his father-in-law's farm in a rural area of Washington Township, Pennsylvania (which was very close to where John Bell's pottery was located in the Shenandoah Valley in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania). After Frey died in 1821, the farm was divided among his four sons. The pottery continued to be run by (his sons) Henry Jr. and George, and during this period the area was renamed Freytown. After Henry Jr.'s death, George Frey maintained the pottery until (his death) 1846."

Thereafter, it is believed that the Frey Pottery continued in some capacity into the early-twentieth-century where they were last seen producing beautiful hand-thrown red earthenware lamp bases for when lamps became fashionable in American homes.

The following cobalt decorated jar comes with a strong provenance - it was originally owned by York, Maine auctioneer, Hap Moore's mother for many years until it sold recently to the most recent owner before I acquired it today on the New Hampshire seacoast.

Finally, I should add that I could see some of these wares mistaken for products made in Nova Scotia in the late nineteenth-century if they were decorated with the usual dark colored speckled glaze that is seen on most of the interiors on the Frey Pottery products that I have handled.