EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: A Comparison of a 19th Century Upstate Western New York Red Earthenware Jar to a 19th Century Upstate Eastern New York Stoneware Jar

Monday, June 27, 2016

A Comparison of a 19th Century Upstate Western New York Red Earthenware Jar to a 19th Century Upstate Eastern New York Stoneware Jar

This is a red earthenware jar from my personal collection, which had previously been owned by a longtime collector in southeastern Michigan. It was likely made at the industry in Morganville, New York around the mid-nineteenth century or maybe a little earlier; whereas, a similar glaze, handles and incised decoration are known today from archaeology collected in Morganville.

However, I recently visited the Albany Museum of Art in Albany, New York, where I was given a tour of the museum's storage facility. There were a number of important examples of locally produced stoneware from the early-nineteenth century kept in this department, many of which had been previously published. But there was one jar that really stood out to me that was made at Paul Cushman's Stoneware Factory in Albany in the early-1800s. Each handle on this jar had been decorated with a number of finger impressions, which is very similar to the applied handles found on the jar that I now own from western New York.

I have not been able to determine any relationship since these jars were made decades apart; although, it is certainly interesting to see such a rare handle found on objects manufactured in opposite ends of upstate New York, separated by about 250 miles.

Western New York Red Earthenware Jar