Important Examples of Red Earthenware which May Share a Distinct Characteristic with a Hartford, Connecticut Stoneware Potter

Last January, Pook and Pook Auctions in Downington, Pennsylvania sold a wonderful slip-decorated red earthenware jar, which was described as a Pennsylvania-made object from the circa 1830 period. This jar may have originally possessed a lid; although, I am not certain of that idea. However, Westborough, Massachusetts antiques dealer, David Wheatcroft has previously owned a related jar that did retain its original lid, but the form is quite different.

Nevertheless, the incised star decoration is what really made this object special when it sold earlier this year in the Jeanne and Bernard B. Hillmann Collection of red earthenware. The Hillmann's had amassed an important collection, which had been assembled through the years with many of the objects having been acquired from some of the country's premier antique dealers.

The incised decoration is also similar to a style of decoration that was applied on stoneware made by Peter Cross in Hartford, Connecticut in the early-nineteenth-century.

According to Lura Woodside Watkins book, 'Early New England Potters and Their Wares,' "In 1805, Peter Cross acquired the red earthenware business of John Souter, an English-born potter in Hartford from the late-eighteenth-century. The name Cross does not occur in the land records, and I believe he was not a native of Hartford. Although, he made some excellent stoneware, he was not altogether successful. After a few years he sold his first building around 1808 to Horace Goodwin and Mark C. Webster (Goodwin & Webster) and moved elsewhere in Hartford; but this, too he abandoned at sometime before 1818."

I am curious to know if the incised star decoration on either of the following red earthenware jars could be from a potter(s), who may have witnessed this type of decoration on earlier stoneware. I am also curious to known if these jars are definitely a Pennsylvania-made product; although, that is where they appear to have been made (to me, as well). But, I honestly question if these jars are actually earlier than 1830 possibly dating to around the turn of the nineteenth-century.

Jeanne & Bernard B. Hillman Jar

 19th Century Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Jar Attributed to Pennsylvania

Reportedly Circa 1830

Stands 7 1/2" Tall

Ex-Collection Jeanne & Bernard  B. Hillmann - Wyckoff, New Jersey

Photo Courtesy: Pook & Pook Auctions - Downington, PA

 View of the Star Decoration

Photo Courtesy: Pook & Pook Auctions - Downington, PA

 View of the Star Decoration

Photo Courtesy: Pook & Pook Auctions - Downington, PA

Peter Cross Stoneware Jug

Early 19th Century Stoneware Jug Made by Peter Cross in Hartford, CT

The Incised Star Decoration is Similar to the Decoration on the Red Earthenware Jars

Circa 1805-1818

Stands 16" Tall

Photo Courtesy: Lewis Scranton - Killingworth, CT

David Wheatcroft Jar

19th Century Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Jar Attributed to Pennsylvania

Reportedly Circa 1830

Photo Courtesy: David Wheatcroft - Westborough, MA

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