EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: Two Examples of Red Earthenware that are Currently on Display at the Discovery Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Monday, May 15, 2017

Two Examples of Red Earthenware that are Currently on Display at the Discovery Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire

I wrote in my most recent article, 'A Pioneering Potter: Samuel Marshall of Portsmouth, New Hampshire,' which was published in the April 2017 edition of the 'New England Antiques Journal,' "Despite its thriving import trade, Portsmouth also managed to sustain a market for locally produced red earthenware. At least four businesses fed this market: Samuel Marshall, who operated before 1750; John Shilabur, who is listed as a potter in 1766; Winthrop Bennett, who ran a shop from 1789-1796; and Joseph Dodge, who purchased Bennett's company in 1796, and continued to operate a successful business into the nineteenth century."

I have previously written about the Dodge Pottery; although, this is not a business that is widely know today despite a significant output. Nevertheless, I hope to write an article about this company's production later this year for possible publication in 2018. There is a large collection of archaeology from the site of the Dodge Pottery that I hope to study that is owned by Strawbery Banke in Portsmouth today.

Yesterday, I visited a wonderful exhibit at the Portsmouth Discovery Center, 'Four Centuries of Furniture in Portsmouth.' I was definitely surprised to see two examples of red earthenware on display that had been loaned by the Portsmouth Historical Society - both of these objects also retain a strong history of ownership in Portsmouth.

The jar is a great survivor and a wonderful example of domestic utilitarian red earthenware, as a result of its size, form, color, incised decoration and unusual handles. This may have been produced locally, and it may have even been made at the Dodge Pottery. There are definitely some Essex County, Massachusetts characteristics that can be seen in this jar - but the Dodge Pottery originated in Exeter, New Hampshire, which was a location that also had direct ties to Essex County.

Basically, milk pans were produced everywhere in New England; however, the rim on this milk pan is similar to other milk pan rims that I have seen recovered in early nineteenth century archaeological contexts in Portsmouth. This type of wide rim is also often associated with nineteenth century red earthenware potters in Vermont today - but this is also a very unusual characteristic to find on red earthenware from this part of coastal central and northern New England. I have yet to prove any type of attribution; although, this pan may have also been made at the Dodge Pottery.

Note: Here is a link to my most recent published article that highlights the work of Samuel Marshall, who was Portsmouth, New Hampshire's first known red earthenware potter in the early-to-mid eighteenth century.

'Four Centuries of Furniture in Portsmouth, NH' Exhibit