EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: An Interesting 19th Century Red Earthenware Vase Found Partially Submerged in a Fresh Body of Water in Maine

Thursday, January 26, 2017

An Interesting 19th Century Red Earthenware Vase Found Partially Submerged in a Fresh Body of Water in Maine

This is a nineteenth-century red earthenware vase that was recently found partially submerged in a body of fresh water in Maine. It is thought that where this vase was discovered was an area that was used in the nineteenth-century to deposit trash. The section of the vase that has been stained is an area, where the vase was not submerged in the water; this part of the vase was exposed to the air and the seasonal temperature/weather in Maine.

I also feel this vase was made in Maine sometime after 1850; although, I also found it interesting when I learned that the interior of this vase was glazed, but the exterior was never glazed. These type of unglazed wares were popular with potters in Maine, as is evident with the recent discoveries that I have written about, which were produced at the John Corliss Pottery in Days Ferry, Woolwich, Maine, circa 1825-1900. But I should also note that I am only using the Corliss Pottery products as an example, there must have been a number of potter's businesses, where this type of unglazed red earthenware was produced, as well.

Ultimately, it is difficult to say where this vase was made; however, glazed, unglazed and painted vases were popular at a number of potter's businesses throughout the late-nineteenth-century. These type decorative forms were made all over New England, in places like Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts before 1900. This type of production was not only limited to New England, either, there were many red earthenware vases made in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Long Island, Ontario, etc.

Found Partially Submerged in Water in Maine