EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: A Rare 19th-Century Red Earthenware Bowl Discovered Near Manchester, New Hampshire

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

A Rare 19th-Century Red Earthenware Bowl Discovered Near Manchester, New Hampshire

Before I introduce the second object that I picked last weekend in New Hampshire - I would like to emphasize the importance of the red earthenware potter's industry that was located in central New Hampshire after 1800. It was well-documented in the twentieth-century from published articles in the 'Magazine Antiques' (and, in books) that the Osborn family (who migrated from Massachusetts) made a major impact in the New Hampshire potter's industry in places like Gonic (Rochester), Loudon, Dover, Exeter and Boscowan. However, I truly believe that the potter's businesses, which were located in places like Lyndeborough and Concord were just as significant, and are often overlooked today. The industry located in Concord was also among the largest manufacturers of red earthenware in New Hampshire in the nineteenth-century.

Today's article will continue the discussion about a group of objects that I discovered last weekend - the following red earthenware bowl was found in the same location near Manchester, New Hampshire as was the pitcher that I wrote about yesterday. Initially, I was not certain where this bowl was made; although, I felt it was probably produced at a potter's business in coastal Massachusetts or central New Hampshire before 1850.

I would describe this bowl as a finely potted object similar to the refinement found on products made by the more-skilled potters, who were employed from Essex County, Massachusetts to Bristol County, Massachusetts in the early-nineteenth-century.

When I got home, I compared this bowl's glaze to a New Hampshire-made pitcher that I own - and, the glazes were basically an identical match to each other. The pitcher was purchased at a Steenburgh Auction in Haverhill, New Hampshire on Labor Day Weekend in 2013.

According to Joshua Steenburgh, "The pitcher came out of an estate in Orford, New Hampshire," and more importantly, the pitcher matches an object owned by the New Hampshire Historical Society in Concord, New Hampshire. The museum attributes their object to the nineteenth-century New Hampshire potter, Joseph Hazeltine (1799-1880).

According to Massachusetts author, Lura Woodside Watkins (Early New England Potters and Their Wares), "The Hazeltines ran a redware shop of some importance about a half mile west of the Clark Pottery in Concord, New Hampshire. Joseph Hazelintine (1799-1880), its founder, was a native of Concord. He worked for the Clarks (Peter Clark, Jr., 1794-1855 and John Farmer Clark, 1832-1885) at times, but Hazeltine also carried on an independent business that he established around 1842, and operated until about his death in 1880. (Note: Joseph Hazeltine likely trained at the Clark Pottery in Concord.)

Joseph Hazeltine's shop stood on the north side of Hopkinton Road, east of Miss Alice Moulton's land, and near the line where an iron fence now stands close to a barn on the next estate. The kiln was located behind the shop.

Hazeltine reportedly operated four potter's wheels and must have employed a number of men. Several pieces of his red earthenware have survived (prior to 1950). His grandson, (also) Joseph Hazeltine, postmaster at Contoocook, New Hampshire, cherishes a shaving mug, and the museum of the New Hampshire Antiquarian Society at Hopkinton has preserved a stew pot with a handle made by Hazeltine in 1845."

The object that is attributed to Hazeltine, and owned by the New Hampshire Historical Society is accompanied with a strong provenance; "The pitcher was donated to the New Hampshire Historical Society by Priscilla Bohanan of Contoocook, New Hampshire. She purchased it from the estate of Arthur Kimball, the great-grandson of Hazen Kimball of Hopkinton, New Hampshire. The donor's note reads, 'The pitcher came from the Hazen Kimball family of Hopkinton. I bought it from the estate of his great-grandson, Arthur Kimball, many years ago...The Hazeltine descendants, Joseph and his son lived here in Hopkinton many years...The New Hampshire Antiquarian Society has a beautiful Hazeltine piece - labeled (on paper) made by Joseph Hazeltine and I believe, donated by the Hazeltine family. It is very similar in glaze (and form) to mine.' Referring to this pitcher, another note reads, 'Served switchell (a drink) in it.'"

Note: I have also shown another pitcher below that I believe was also made at the Joseph Hazeltine Pottery in Concord - the pitcher was found about thirty-five miles east of Concord in a house in Rochester, New Hampshire in 2015.

Bowl Found Near Manchester, NH