EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: An Important 18th Century Red Earthenware Jug that was Recently Found in an Old House in Southern New Hampshire

Saturday, July 16, 2016

An Important 18th Century Red Earthenware Jug that was Recently Found in an Old House in Southern New Hampshire

My latest article has just been published in the August 2016 edition of the New England Antiques Journal. It just became available this week; however, it will also be available at all of the shows next month during the annual Antiques Week in New Hampshire celebration.

The article focuses on Peter Clark, an eighteenth-century red earthenware potter, who was employed in Braintree, Massachusetts before 1775, and afterwards, he was employed in Lyndeborogh, New Hampshire in the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries. Rare previously undocumented objects are shown, along with archaeological evidence and what I describe as a "treasure map." Clark's eighteenth and nineteenth-century legacy is certainly memorable! He likely had some sort of relationship with the pre-1775 Charlestown, Massachusetts potter's industry, and he even fought in the American Revolution.

Nevertheless, the following large red earthenware jug would have likely been published in the article if it were available for publication. Unfortunately, it was not; however, this jug was recently discovered in an early-home in southern New Hampshire. It was found during a house clean out sitting on the bricks next to the fireplace.

I have personally handled this jug, and it appears that it could have been made by Peter Clark or a potter associated with Peter Clark's pottery in the Lyndeborough-area during the circa 1775-1795 period. The form seems to draw some inspiration from American-made eighteenth-century stoneware jugs, especially those made in places like Charlestown, Massachusetts and Merrimacport, Massachusetts in late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries.

Note: This large jug is pictured below alongside a red earthenware jug that is attributed to Peter Clark's production in Lyndeborough in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth-centuries. This jug is also pictured in the New England Antiques Journal article - and, Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Massachusetts owns a similar formed object that is inscribed "Lyndeborough" and dated "1786"

Red Earthenware Jug Recently Found in Southern New Hampshire