A Rare Bottle
This object is in the form of an eighteenth-century glass onion bottle, which was predominantly popular with European glass-makers throughout the 1700's. Remains from these types of bottles are found in just about every major colonial American city. For example: there are dozens of onion bottle shards that were recovered in Charlestown, Massachusetts in various contexts that date before the Battle of Bunker Hill took place on June 17, 1775. However, I actually believe this red earthenware onion bottle may date from a later period during the nineteenth-century. I believe it could be the product of a potter's business that appears to have taken a special interest in reproducing imported eighteenth-century objects after 1840.
I should note that red earthenware products made in New Hampshire during the 1700's are exceedingly rare today, and any such survivors are mostly limited to the businesses that were located in early-communities near the New Hampshire seacoast, such as Exeter, New Hampshire and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Most New Hampshire-made red earthenware today actually dates from the nineteenth-century. There are only a limited number of eighteenth-century examples known, which are divided between prominent private collections, historical societies and national museums.
The reason I suggest the later period for this product is the result of Historic New England, which owns a few inscribed objects that were donated as part of the Nina Fletcher Little Collection - these particular objects were made at the Clark Pottery in Concord, New Hampshire during the 1840-1860 period. They imitate eighteenth-century English salt-glazed plates. It appears that the Concord business used an actual eighteenth-century plate as a mold, which was then used to manufacture the objects that are owned by Historic New England at Cogswell's Grant in Essex, Massachusetts. This isn't a rare, instance, either - the Clark Pottery in Concord is known to have experimented and broadened its production value during the 1840's to the 1880's, which is different than most utilitarian potter's businesses in northern New England during the same period. For instance, they made products, which supported presidential campaigns, painted artware often formed in ancient-styles, whimsical objects, etc.
For a brief history: The Clark family is a family of potters, who began in the 1760's in Brantree, Massachusetts under the control of the business' founding family member, Peter Clark. However, Peter Clark chose to move his family to Lyndeborough, New Hampshire before the American Revolution began in 1775. The family eventually expanded its business through three-generations of potters, and, ultimately, another potter's business was established in Concord, which lasted until the 1880's.
Possible Attribution
Now, taking the ideas that are mentioned above into consideration, and also the location where this bottle was discovered - Why couldn't this object have also been made at this pottery? The fluid glaze that is seen on the base of the bottle is also a glaze-style that is often found with known Clark Pottery products today. Glaze separation is also found in the glaze, which is also a characteristic of the Clark family. (Note: Personally, I don't believe this product is associated with the family's production in Lyndeborough. It doesn't fit with what is known about that area's production today; i.e. surviving examples, documented information and archaeological evidence.)
Unfortunately, I don't have definitive proof to support the idea that this bottle was definitely made in Concord; however, the idea behind its manufacture certainly fits with the unusual known output from this business.
(Left) 18th Century European Glass Onion Bottle
(Right) 19th Century Red Earthenware Object in the Form of an Onion Bottle
Photo Courtesy: Mark Newton - Milford, NH
19th Century Manganese Glazed Red Earthenware Bottle
The Bottle is a Potter's Imitation of an 18th Century European Onion Bottle
Possibly Made in Central or Western New Hampshire
Possibly Made in Central or Western New Hampshire
Circa 1790-1860
Stands Approximately 6" Tall
Photo Courtesy: Mark Newton - Milford, NH
View of the Interior
Photo Courtesy: Mark Newton - Milford, NH
View of the Base
Photo Courtesy: Mark Newton - Milford, NH
Another View of the Base
Photo Courtesy: Mark Newton - Milford, NH
Further Evidence
I should also include the idea that Massachusetts author, Lura Woodside Watkins shows what she describes as a "black glazed red earthenware bottle in imitation of an eighteenth century glass form" in figure 66B in her important book, 'Early New England Potter's and Their Wares.' She attributes the bottle to the Chesham region in New Hampshire in the nineteenth-century, which was an area that employed a potter's industry in the 1800's. Today, this area is located in southwestern New Hampshire near the Vermont and Massachusetts borders. There is also a possibility that this red earthenware onion bottle is related to that object.
The bottle that is shown in 'Early New England Potters and Their Wares' is owned by the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. today.
19th Century Black Glazed Red Earthenware Bottle
Attributed to the Chesham Region in NH - Southwest NH
Circa 1800-1840
Stands 6 1/2" Tall
Lura Woodside Watkins Collection
Photo Courtesy: The National Museum of American History, The Smithsonian - Washington, D.C.
For reference: I also know of another black-glazed red earthenware bottle that resides in an important long-time Essex County, Massachusetts private collection, which is also attributed to New Hampshire in the nineteenth-century. This privately owned bottle is in a similar form to the bottle that is shown in 'Early New England Potters and Their Wares.'
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
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