EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: A Brightly Glazed Early-to-Mid 19th Century Red Earthenware Pitcher from Western New York

Saturday, August 20, 2016

A Brightly Glazed Early-to-Mid 19th Century Red Earthenware Pitcher from Western New York

I recently acquired a nineteenth-century red earthenware pitcher that was likely made in western New York; however, the possible attribution is what makes this object so fascinating (to me). The main reason 'why' I obtained this piece is a result of the form resembling another pitcher that I own, which was made by Nathaniel Rochester in Ontario County, New York before 1832.

The forms are nearly a mirror image of each other - the bases are almost an identical match, the ovoid shapes are very close, and the unusual rims are an identical match. The only difference that I can see is found in the handles, where one handle was press-molded and the other handle was pulled by hand; although, this difference is merely a result of how each handle was produced.

I can not speak for Nathaniel Rochester in this case, but I have seen New England potters produce handles in multiple styles.

For example, William Pecker produced handles that were hand-pulled and press-molded in Merrimacport, Massachusetts before 1820. The potters in Peabody, Massachusetts are also known to have produced handles with multiple production styles. Fundamentally, it does not necessarily mean that a potter has to be held to a single production standard today.

Nevertheless, I am still in the process of learning the specifics about certain potter's businesses in western New York, but this pitcher could be an undocumented style of handle from Nathaniel Rochester. However, it may also be a product from another potter, who may have been directly influenced by Rochester or employed near the Rochester Pottery in the early-to-mid nineteenth-century.