An Incredible Piece of Beverly, Massachusetts Red Earthenware Acquired Yesterday at the National Antique Bottle Show in Springfield, Massachusetts

Yesterday, I visited the National Antique Bottle Convention & Expo at the Mass Mutual Center in Springfield, Massachusetts, an annual event that is held at different locations across the country, which was founded in California in 1958. I have been to some bottle shows in New England before, but I have never seen a bottle show of this size and quality; although, I was told that the annual bottle show in Baltimore is even larger.

But I drove to Springfield in order to pick up an incredible piece of New England red earthenware that I first learned about on Facebook last year just before Christmas. This object was acquired privately over one-year ago by Midddlebury, Vermont antique dealer, Jeff Noordsy.

This pitcher was made at the Charles A. Lawrence Pottery (ca. 1866-1906) in Beverly, Massachusetts; however, this is certainly an object that was produced in the company's initial years of operation likely in the mid-to-late-1860s.

I also believe this to be an important piece of pottery for multiple reasons - the first being Lawrence's obsession with ancient pottery, which is a style of production that he led the country when in 1872 he was the first potter in America to begin copying Grecian-style pottery that he saw in prints and museum collections. The form of this pitcher closely resembles known ancient Grecian pitchers.

The second reason why I feel this is an important piece of pottery is the obsession that potters had with red earthenware made in Philadelphia in the eighteenth century. This obsession went as far as at least one potter advertising in the 1760s that he was producing pottery in Providence, Rhode Island, which was similar to what was manufactured in Philadelphia.

The glaze on this pitcher closely resembles some of the multi-slip glazes that were often utilized on plates and platters in Philadelphia in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. I would definitely not be surprised to learn that there is a connection, especially since this is a rare style of slip that Lawrence is known for today.

Notes: Here is a link to an article that I had published in the January 2014 edition of the New England Antiques Journal, which discusses the history of the Charles A. Lawrence Pottery in Beverly, Massachusetts.

Here is also a link to an article that I posted last summer about an important piece of signed red earthenware from the Lawrence Pottery, circa 1872 that shows the Grecian influence.

And, here is a link to an article that I posted in June about an important piece of Lawrence Pottery that is kept in the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum in Colorado.

Incredible Red Earthenware Pitcher

 My Niece, Alexis Pictured with the Pitcher Yesterday in Springfield, Mass.

 19th Century Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Pitcher

Made at the Charles A. Lawrence Pottery in Beverly, Mass.

Likely Ca. Mid-to-Late-1860s

Stands 5 1/4" Tall

See Article for More Information

 Another View of the Pitcher

 Another View of the Pitcher

View of the Handle

Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...