EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: An Unusual-Style of Red Earthenware Attributed to Boscowan, New Hampshire by the New Hampshire Historical Society

Thursday, December 17, 2015

An Unusual-Style of Red Earthenware Attributed to Boscowan, New Hampshire by the New Hampshire Historical Society

A little more than a month ago - I was shown a collection of pottery from a New Hampshire house that was for sale. There was a certain object in that collection that spoke to me; however, I couldn't pinpoint where I had seen a similar object before. I knew I had, but I just couldn't remember where - I even handled this object last weekend - and, my feelings remained the same. I just couldn't figure out where I had seen a related object.

But, it all came together yesterday evening when I was curiously studying some of the red earthenware objects owned by the New Hampshire Historical Society in Concord, New Hampshire. Pictured on my computer screen was a fancy black-glazed red earthenware pitcher attributed to the Boscowan Pottery in Boscowan, New Hampshire. Unfortunately, I don't know what the museum's definition of 'Boscowan Pottery' means since there were a few different businesses known to have operated in this small inland town in the nineteenth-century.

According to the historical society - this pitcher was a gift donated to the museum in 1938 by Margaret H. Jewell, who is also a name synonymous with Historic New England since she also donated a large collection of New England-made utilitarian pottery to that organization about the same period. Marked on the bottom of the museum's pitcher - it reads: "Gift of M.H. Jewell 1938 / Boscowan Pottery."

Admittedly, this pitcher does seem out of the ordinary for products that were made in Boscowan in the 1800's, which typically represent what other country potter's were producing throughout New England during the same one-hundred-year period. However, I should note that there are misleading published attributions from the 1920's (1925 & 1926) tied to the products made in Boscowan today. Most importantly - is the idea that stoneware was made at the Jeremiah Burpee (1781-1862) Pottery - truthfully, this is an inaccurate attribution. Stoneware was never made at this business.

Appropriately, it should be expected that I also question this pitcher's attribution; although, there is a better chance that this pitcher could have been made in Boscowan since it is a red earthenware product - rather, than any type of stoneware that was once said to have been made in this area.

Reportedly 19th Century Black-Glazed Red Earthenware Pitcher Attributed to Boscowan, NH

Reportedly Made at the 'Boscowan Pottery'

Circa 1804-1862

Stands 8 3/8" Tall

Gift of Margaret H. Jewell in 1938

Photo Courtesy: New Hampshire Historical Society - Boscowan, NH

The reason that I was attracted to this pitcher is a result of the ovoid form (rounded belly) and many of the decorative characteristics, which are very-similar to the fancy black-glazed red earthenware jug that I was shown from the New Hampshire collection - and, I cite at the beginning of this article.

Shown below is that jug - you should be able to notice a number of decorative techniques that are also represented on the pitcher owned by the New Hampshire Historical Society.

(Left) Black-Glazed Red Earthenware Jug

Appears Related to the Pitcher Owned by the New Hampshire Historical Society

Stands Approximately 6" to 7" Tall

Photo Courtesy: Private New Hampshire Collection

View of the Base
Photo Courtesy: Private New Hampshire Collection

It also dawned on me that I wrote about a related fancy black-glazed red earthenware jug this past August - that jug, reportedly, descended through the famed Osborn family of Peabody, Massachusetts. The Osborns were a multi-generational family, who produced red earthenware in Massachusetts and New Hampshire in the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries. The family's business foundation was originally established in Essex County in Peabody. Arguably, this is one of the most-important family of potters to have worked in New England before 1900.

A friend, actually purchased the following jug from an elderly Osborn relative in Peabody in the early-1980's when he visited her home. She told him that it had been in her family for as long as she could remember. Coincidentally, Jeremiah Burpee, who ultimately founded the first business in Boscowan is thought to have trained or apprenticed at the Osborn Pottery in Loudon, New Hampshire in the early-nineteenth-century. Afterwards, he opened his own business in Boscowan, which later saw his sons and other family members also enter the potter's business in Boscowan.

There are obvious questions that come to mind while writing about these objects - the biggest argument is an American maker versus a foreign maker. The easy answer is to say that these are foreign made products. But, should the idea that Margaret Jewell believed otherwise in 1938 be analyzed in further detail? I have found that most of her attributions between what she donated to Historic New England and the New Hampshire Historical Society are accurate today.

There are additional ideas that I would also like to take into account: Could this be a product line that is mistaken for a foreign-made company since the style is pretty-much unfamiliar to what is known from the New England potter's industry today? The style is also different from what is known from the types of red earthenware products that were also made during New England's Art & Crafts Movement amid the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-centuries.

Lastly, I must ask the question: Could this really be a product-style that was made in Boscowan, New Hampshire or is this rather another bad attribution much-like the stoneware that was once also attributed to Boscowan? I feel the answer rests directly or indirectly with the Osborn family; otherwise, these must be foreign made products. Personally, I don't have enough proof either way, yet, but the Margaret H. Jewell attribution fascinates me.

If you look at this jug - it basically demonstrates the same twisted handle, the same decorated ovoid belly and a similar applied decoration when compared to the pitcher above - and, undoubtedly, this jug and the previous jug were produced at the same potter's business. How this translates is probably an ongoing discussion today.