EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: A 19th Century Red Earthenware Creamer from the Porter Pottery in Wiscasset, Maine

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

A 19th Century Red Earthenware Creamer from the Porter Pottery in Wiscasset, Maine

A potter's work, who I really enjoy today are the wares that were made by Ezra Porter (1769-1847) in Wiscasset, Maine. It seems (to me) that Porter's wares are rather rare today, and, as a result, red earthenware from the Porter Pottery has been elusive to many collectors. I think my interest with the Porter Pottery is likely the result of Ezra's Massachusetts background, as-well-as the fact that I like the Wiscasset-area, as well.

According to Massachusetts author, Lura Woodside Watkins (Early New England Potters and Their Wares), "The Porter Pottery in Wiscasset, Maine is thought to have started about 1790. Ezra Porter, its founder, was a grandson of Joseph Osborn of Danvers, Massachusetts and son of Benjamin Porter, another Danvers potter.

His own statement, published in the 'Lincoln Intelligencer,' August 1826, declares, 'I, Ezra Porter, potter by the trade, have worked at the potter's business for about forty years, in Danvers and Watertown, Massachusetts, in Newcastle and Wiscasset, in the County of Lincoln, in the State of Maine.'

According to this, he began his career in 1786 at the age of seventeen. Ezra's pottery in Wiscasset has not been located (as of 1950), but that of his son, Silas Porter, who succeeded him, was built on the site of the old county poor house in the southern part of Wiscasset. This is described as being near Hilton's Cove at Birch Point, on the cross road connecting the state highway with the old road to Jewankee.

In this district, near a bed of excellent clay, Silas Porter made a great variety of earthenware, including pipkins, cake molds, money jugs, snuff jars and the usual assortment of cooking dishes and containers. He also operated a brickyard that was later sold to the New England Brick Company."

The latest edition to my collection of Porter Pottery is a wonderful colorful red earthenware creamer (see below), which I acquired last weekend from Middlebury, Vermont antique dealers, Jeff and Holly Noordsy in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Arguably, this may be the most identifiable form from the Porter Pottery; however, it is also a rare form, which is difficult to obtain due to the demand for this potter's work today. Truthfully, I also only know about a small number of these creamers in existence; although, a matching form is also published in the book, 'The Early Potters and Potteries of Maine,' which is owned by the Maine State Museum in Augusta, Maine.

This is my collection of pottery that I believe was made at the Porter Pottery in Wiscasset - a noticeable characteristic with each piece is the presence of a large rounded foot or base. This may be a style that Ezra Porter first learned in Massachusetts, as this is a common characteristic with wares that were made in Essex County, Charlestown, the South Shore and Southeastern Massachusetts in the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries.

Note: Here is a link to a red earthenware bowl that was made at the Porter Pottery in Wiscasset, Maine, which is owned by the Maine State Museum in Augusta, Maine.

The Berdan Collection that sold in Gray, Maine in 1998, also contained a collection of red earthenware from the Porter Pottery. Forms included two jars, two bowls, a single-handed jug and a double-handed jug.

The Porter Potteries - Wiscasset, Maine

Red Earthenware Lidded Jar