EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: The Continued Study Into the Use of Slip-Decoration in the 18th and 19th Century North Yarmouth, Maine Potter's Industry

Monday, January 23, 2017

The Continued Study Into the Use of Slip-Decoration in the 18th and 19th Century North Yarmouth, Maine Potter's Industry

Yesterday, I wrote about a brown-glazed red earthenware jug, which was discovered hidden in an attic inside a house that was built around 1815 in Cumberland, Maine. The jug is thought to have been produced at one of the potter's businesses in North Yarmouth, Maine in the nineteenth-century. There are a number of factors that attribute this object to the potter's industry in North Yarmouth; however, the jug also shows traces of slip-decoration on a few areas of the body and the handle.

This slip decoration was not intentional, and it appears to have been accidentally spilled onto the jug. But for this slip to have been spilled onto the jug it has to mean that the potter, who produced it must have been using slip-decoration.

I also showed the remains of a slip-decorated bowl, which was brown-glazed on the exterior and the interior was covered in slip. The color of the brown-glaze perfectly matched the brown-glaze on the jug (see below).

The bowl sherds were found inside an eighteenth or nineteenth-century privy on Pleasant Street in Yarmouth, Maine; the house is described as having been built pre-1750, but the contents of the privy appear later. It is thought that all of the contents were thrown into this privy during the circa 1815-1820 period.

A few years back, the late-Don Carpentier (1951-2014) from Historic Eastfield Village in East Nassau, New York looked at the English ceramics recovered from this privy, and he felt they all dated from the circa 1815 period. The ceramics included some wonderful examples of English mochaware. Although, from what I could see, pretty much all of the red earthenware that was removed from the privy was from a local manufacturer.

Today, I would like to further discuss what is known about slip-decoration in this part of Maine, where there are additional slip-decorated sherds, which are owned by the Yarmouth Historical Society. The museum's slip-decorated sherds were collected at a crossroads in North Yarmouth, where a number of potter's businesses operated in the late-eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries. I have not been able to match the museum's sherds to a specific potter's business, but I have no doubt that these slip-decorated sherds were produced at the location, where they were found.

The big difference that I can see with the type of slip-decoration that is found on these sherds (and the bowl remains) versus what was often produced with slip elsewhere in America in the 1800's is the lack of a slip cup. These sherds were decorated in a style that is similar to how glazes were applied, where an entire surface was covered.

I have also shown a slip-decorated jar that I purchased in 2014 from a Maine antiques dealer (the jar was also found in Maine); the slip-decoration on this jar perfectly matches the slip that is seen on the sherds owned by the Yarmouth Historical Society.

Note: I also want to add that I have shown a slip-decorated red earthenware jar that is attributed to Maine, which is owned by Ohio antiques collector and dealer, David Good. This jar appears like it could have been made in North Yarmouth based on the shape of the jar, the base, the glaze pattern at the base, the glaze color, and there is also dabs of slip-decoration that was applied on top of the glaze.

Photos Taken Inside