A Small Metallic Black Glazed Red Earthenware Teapot Owned by the Old York Museums in Maine

This is a wonderful small metallic black glazed red earthenware teapot that I studied yesterday while visiting the storage facility at the Old York Museums in Kittery, Maine. Although, the maker of this teapot is currently unknown, it does retain a local history of ownership, which I believe potentially suggests a New England manufacturer. I also believe that it may be eighteenth or early nineteenth century in origin, which could also suggest that it was made in Massachusetts; however, it probably dates from the early 1800s.

The metallic black glaze is reminiscent to glazes that were created at the Thomas Crafts Pottery in Whately, Massachusetts, circa 1821-1833. But the form does not conform with what I know about this business from evidence that I have seen, which has been recovered at the Crafts Pottery site and the trash pile that had accumulated from the potter's kiln.

Teapots associated with Crafts production have been recovered in various archaeological contexts that include places, such as Salem, Massachusetts and Delaware County in Upstate New York (see 2011 edition of Ceramics in America) - the fact that teapots from the Crafts Pottery traveled makes total sense seeing that this business reportedly produced more than 2,000 teapots per year (in some years).

I did not photograph the interior of this teapot, but I did carefully inspect it, where I counted seven holes that were added by the potter to the area that the spout was attached.

Sherds from a metallic black glazed red earthenware teapot have been recovered in an early nineteenth century archaeological context in Yarmouth, Maine, which was also a location for a large potter's industry in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. But there is no proof that teapots were manufactured in this industry.

Note: To my knowledge, the earliest evidence of any red earthenware teapot production in New England took place with John Henry Benner (1728-1796) in Abington, Massachusetts, circa 1765-1796. The Dyer Memorial Library owns a small teapot that is attributed to Benner, which is also pictured in figure 30 in Lura Woodside Watkins book 'Early New England Potters and Their Wares.'

Metallic Black Glazed Teapot

 Early 19th Century Black Glazed Red Earthenware Teapot

Retains a Local History of Ownership

Stands Approximately 3-4" Tall

Photo Courtesy: Old York Museums - York, ME 

View of the Handle

Photo Courtesy: Old York Museums - York, ME 

 View of the Lid

Photo Courtesy: Old York Museums - York, ME 

View of the Base

Photo Courtesy: Old York Museums - York, ME 

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