EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: A Rare Painted 19th Century Red Earthenware Candlestick Recently Found in New Hampshire

Thursday, November 19, 2015

A Rare Painted 19th Century Red Earthenware Candlestick Recently Found in New Hampshire

Generally, an American-made eighteenth or nineteenth-century red earthenware candlestick is extremely rare today. I believe the form was made more in Pennsylvania than any other region; however, it is truly difficult to be positive of that statement in respect to how few red earthenware candlesticks have actually survived today.

The following painted red earthenware candlestick is owned in a private Boston-area antiques collection that resides in a late-seventeenth-century home located to the north of the city. The collector told me that this candlestick was recently purchased from a New Hampshire antiques dealer at one of the regular Sunday morning Milford, New Hampshire Antique Shows.

I happen to know the dealer, whom this candlestick was purchased from - he obtains the bulk of his inventory from New Hampshire homes - and, that's my guess as to where this object was discovered. My idea is that this is either a Maine, New Hampshire or a northern Massachusetts-made product, but it seems that the likeliest of places points towards a New Hampshire maker.

The characteristic that really stood out to me when I handled this object recently is the fact that it is painted - and, I believe the paint is original to this candlestick. Given the idea that the paint is original really lends an idea that can help better attribute such a product. Very-few New England-based utilitarian potter's businesses are known to have painted their wares in the 1800's.

The companies that I would probably focus on for a possible attribution with this product are the Kitson Pottery in North Bridgton, Maine, the Corliss Pottery in the Days Ferry neighborhood of Woolwich, Maine, the John Farmer Clark Pottery in Concord, New Hampshire, the Chase Pottery in Merrimacport, Massachusetts and the Charles A. Lawrence Pottery in Beverly, Massachusetts. All of these businesses are known to have painted some of their products in the nineteenth-century - and, the period for when these potter's businesses would have painted certain objects matches up to when I believe this candlestick was manufactured during the circa 1850-1890 period.

The likeliest of locations as to where this candlestick was produced may have been at the John Farmer Clark Pottery in Concord, New Hampshire - coincidentally (like I have previously written), New Hampshire is also where this candlestick was purchased. However, this exact form isn't a style that I have seen attributed to the Clark Pottery before. Although, I have seen a similar form (see below) properly attributed to John Farmer Clark's production, which is owned by the New Hampshire Historical Society in Concord. I should also mention that John Farmer Clark's business is known today for decorating some products with gold paint (see below) - unfortunately, this wasn't the only New England-based business that applied gold paint to its products.

For a brief history: John Farmer Clark is a relative to the famed Clark family of potters located in the Lyndeboro, New Hampshire and Concord-areas in the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries. The family business was established by the important potter, Peter Clark, who began his career as a potter in Braintree, Massachusetts in the 1760's - after the American Revolution, he moved north helping establish the potter's industry located away from the seacoast in central New Hampshire, which flourished in the 1800's.

Below, I have shown the candlestick of discussion; however, I have also shown a few examples that are owned by the New Hampshire Historical Society that may help an argument for a John Farmer Clark Pottery or a Concord, New Hampshire attribution. You will see that these objects exhibit similar characteristics when compared to the candlestick that is privately owned.