EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: Important 18th Century Red Earthenware Bowls Discovered in Newburyport, Mass. that are Owned Today by the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

Saturday, November 11, 2017

Important 18th Century Red Earthenware Bowls Discovered in Newburyport, Mass. that are Owned Today by the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

Daniel Bayley, Sr. (1729-1792), an eighteenth century red earthenware potter from Newburyport, Massachusetts wrote for the 'Essex Journal' on August 3, 1774, where he thanked the people in Newburyport, who had recently helped him extinguish a fire inside his potter's shop. But he also wrote, "Also takes this opportunity of exculpating himself from sundry reports, which have been spread to his prejudice, that he has been inimical to the town and has propagated many stories against their liberties, reports which he insists are entirely groundless. Notwithstanding, he readily acknowledges he has been too free in speaking his political sentiments which have been somewhat different from the major part of the people; but this consolation he has, that he has ever spoken his honest, sincere and unbiased sentiments - but is determined in future, not to converse on politics which seem so generally to disgust."

It was then published in 1840 in the 'The History of Rowley, Massachusetts' that "On July 8, 1777, Rowley voters elected Captain Thomas Mighill (1722-1807), being a person firmly attached to the American cause, to proceed against persons believed with inimical dispositions.

Other Essex County communities likewise appointed a trusted newsperson to gather evidence against suspected internal enemies, but only a few actually were accused. Newburyport voted Daniel Bailey and John Anderson to be tried at a special session. Daniel Farnham (1732-1776) would have been tried as well, but he had died the previous year.

At the height of anti-Toryism, Massachusetts passed measures to prevent fugitives from returning and to expropriate their property. The September 1778 Banishment Act forbade return of over 300 refugees who had left and were believed to have joined the enemies."

Nevertheless, I have not been able to find exact evidence, which proves Bayley's outcome when he was tried at this special session. But it must be assumed that he was found not guilty since Bayley died in Newburyport in 1792; although, Daniel Bayley (possibly Daniel Bayley, Jr., 1755-1799) was also listed as a Second Lieutenant in the 4th Essex Regiment in 1777; whereas, Bayley, Jr. was also a red earthenware potter, who was buried in Newburyport in 1799.

Yesterday, I posted an article that showed a wonderful green-glaze that was produced at the Bayley Pottery in Newburyport, circa 1764-1799. This type of glaze could probably be mistaken for production from southeastern Massachusetts in the late-eighteenth or early-nineteenth century.

Massachusetts author, Lura Woodside Watkins had actually written about these exact green-glazed sherds when she published 'Early New England Potters and Their Wares' in 1950: "So little pottery dating from the eighteenth century is in existence today that we were surprised by the variety of forms revealed by our discoveries at the site of Daniel Bayley's Pottery in Newburyport, circa 1764-1799. The greater proportion of utensils made at the Bayley Pottery were undecorated and purely utilitarian.

The deep pudding pots, somewhat slope-sided, like a flowerpot were unglazed on the outside, but covered on the interior with a coffee-colored or greenish glaze. In one instance we found fragments in a true and brilliant green."

Watkins collected all of the Bayley Pottery sherds that are now owned by the Smithsonian in the 1930s at the actual site of the business. She salvaged as much as she could as demolition crews were paving a highway underpass directly through the Bayley property. It has been reported that construction crews told Watkins that they had hauled off huge amounts of broken pottery. Although, thankfully, Watkins did all she could to preserve as much evidence from this colonial potter's business, as possible.

I was fortunate to study all of the Bayley Pottery material that Watkins had recovered last month when I visited the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. Luckily, early-twentieth century collectors, researchers and writers, such as Watkins were interested enough to study these eighteenth century potters; whereas, generally, the Bayley Pottery is known today for black, brown and clear-lead-glazes and various styles of slip-decoration. However, the artifacts that Watkins collected prove this business was much-more in-depth with the style of decorations that were manufactured; these decorations obviously included various styles of slip, but this pottery also incorporated colorful glazes, such as green, as well as combed incised decorations.

A form that I was surprised to see represented in the sherds was the variety of refined red earthenware bowls that Watkins collected at the Bayley Pottery. These bowls were decorated with the expected black, brown and clear-lead glazes; although, I also saw a green-glazed bowl and partially slip-decorated bowls.

There was one bowl in particular (which I have previously written about) that closely resembled a style of bowl produced in Philadelphia, circa 1770-1815. But there was also another slip-decorated bowl, where the slip had been carefully applied only to a small area around the exterior of the rim.

It was also interesting to see how the slip was applied on these type of bowls, as opposed to how vastly different the Bayleys applied slip on thicker produced forms, such as chamber pots and pans. I assume that the number of potters, who worked at the Bayley Pottery before and after the American Revolution can account for the variety of styles of production that I have seen from this business.

Red Earthenware Bowls Recovered in Newbuyport, Mass.

Bowl Style No. 1-4