EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: Potentially an Important Example of 19th Century Maine-Made Red Earthenware and Pewter that Sold this Morning on eBay

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Potentially an Important Example of 19th Century Maine-Made Red Earthenware and Pewter that Sold this Morning on eBay

Potentially, an important example of nineteenth-century Maine-made red earthenware may have just sold on eBay for a little over one-hundred dollars. It was sold out of Sanbornville, New Hampshire, which is a small town located just over the southern Maine border. I would have bid, but I did not see this eBay listing until after it had already ended.

I initially thought that the pewter top was added as a make-do attachment after the jug had broken - after all, make-do repairs are not uncommon to Maine-made red earthenware. However, the picture that I have posted below, which shows the interior of the pewter top appears like the rim of the jug is still perfectly intact, and in great shape as it rests inside the pewter top.

This is my reaction: The jug appears like it was made at the John Corliss Pottery in Woolwich, Maine, circa 1825-1880. However, the pewter lid may have been made in Westbrook, Maine (5 miles west of Portland, Maine), where a pewter industry flourished in the late-1830's to the 1860's.

This red earthenware object may have been intentionally created at the John Corliss Pottery in Woolwich with a pewter lid. I do not believe this type of connection has ever been made between the Corliss Pottery and a pewterer before.

Similar objects were created in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries that were made out of earthenware and stoneware. German potters were especially known for this type of production with earthenware jugs, mugs and pitchers, which were manufactured with an attached pewter lid.

Nineteenth-century American potters in the Midwest were also known to have produced red earthenware in the 1870's with tin handles that were intentionally added by the potter. The tin would have likely been more durable than a traditional pottery handle - the tin handle could have also easily been replaced. Here is a link to a Midwestern example (far left) that sold at Crocker Farm in Sparks, Maryland in March 2013.

Note: I apologize for the quality of the following photos; however, these are the only photos that I have available to use. I also had to enlarge the original eBay photos without losing quality. Here is also a link to the original eBay auction that ended this morning.

Red Earthenware Jug with Pewter Lid