"Drawn from Nature & on Stone features lithographs from the Cape Ann Museum's own holdings and from collections throughout the region including the American Antiquarian Society, the Boston Athenaeum, the New York Public Library and the Library of Congress. The exhibition offers scholars and lay people alike the opportunity to explore the intersection of Lane's work as a printmaker and a painter."
However, I also visited the early-nineteenth century Captain Elias Davis (1758-1821) House, a three-story Federal Period home in Gloucester, which happens to be attached to the museum and furnished with a wonderful selection of decorative arts that mostly retain a local history of ownership.
According to the Cape Ann Museum, "The Captain Elias Davis House, built in 1804 by one of Gloucester's most successful sea captains, houses much of the museum's furniture and decorative arts collection in the four rooms on the house's first floor. In keeping with life in the early-nineteenth century, the house is furnished and decorated with domestic and personal items. Many of the objects in the house actually belonged to Elias Davis and his descendants."
I posted most of the pictures that I took of the interior of this house yesterday on my Facebook page, but I did not include the collection of late-eighteenth/nineteenth century and possibly twentieth century red earthenware. It is interesting to see many of these objects in this type of context since it appears that the potters in Peabody, Massachusetts and Newburyport, Massachusetts were exporting their wares to Gloucester during this period; whereas, I have previously published on this website that the potter's from Newburyport and Peabody exported elsewhere in New England in the eighteenth century.
Nevertheless, this collection also included nineteenth century slip-decorated objects from Long Island in New York and Pennsylvania; although, it is not known if these objects directly retain a local history of ownership. But I would also like to note that examples of Long Island pottery have been recovered in nineteenth century contexts of ownership on Cape Cod in the early-twentieth century by Massachusetts author, Lura Woodside Watkins (Early New England Potters and Their Wares), and red earthenware from Philadelphia has also been recovered in nineteenth century contexts of ownership in places like Boston and Salem, Massachusetts.
Note: I have not posted the entire collection of red earthenware that is kept at the Captain Elias House in Gloucester, Massachusetts - there were simple utilitarian objects, as well that included some dishes, food molds and pots. However, I thought the following objects had the most potential to tell a story about the type of red earthenware that was possibly available in Gloucester in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. There was also a large collection of European and Chinese ceramics kept in this house, which also retained a history of ownership.
Captain Elias Davis House, Gloucester, Mass.
Captain Elias Davis House in Gloucester, Mass.
Built in 1804
See Article for More Information
Collection of Red Earthenware at the Captain Elias Davis House
(Left) 19th Century Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Plate
Attributed to Pennsylvania, Possibly Philadelphia
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(Middle) 19th Century Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Plate
Attributed to Pennsylvania, Possibly Philadelphia
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(Right) 19th Century Red Earthenware Jug
Likely Made in Essex County, Mass.
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Photo Courtesy: Cape Ann Museum - Gloucester, Mass.
(Back) 19th Century Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Plate
Attributed to Long Island
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Photo Courtesy: Cape Ann Museum - Gloucester, Mass.
(Front) 18th or 19th Century Red Earthenware Bowl
Attributed to the Industry in Peabody, Mass.
Similar Bowl Pictured in 'Early New England Potters and Their Wares'
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Photo Courtesy: Cape Ann Museum - Gloucester, Mass.
Another View of the Bowl
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Photo Courtesy: Cape Ann Museum - Gloucester, Mass.
(Back) 19th Century Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Dish
New England or Mid-Atlantic Origin
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(Front) Likely 18th or 19th Century Red Earthenware Creamer or Small Pitcher
Likely Made in Newburyport, Mass.
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: Cape Ann Museum - Gloucester, Mass.
(Left) 19th Century Black-Glazed Red Earthenware Mugs
Likely Made in Essex County, Mass.
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: Cape Ann Museum - Gloucester, Mass.
(Right) 19th or 20th Century Red Earthenware Flower Pots
Attributed to Peabody, Mass.
Similar Objects Pictured in 'Early New England Potters and Their Wares'
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: Cape Ann Museum - Gloucester, Mass.
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