A Red Earthenware Jar Found in New Hampshire that is Related to an Object Owned by Historic Deerfield in Massachusetts

Red earthenware that was entirely glazed on the interior, but only partially on the exterior is a style of production that many are familiar with today from some of the potters employed in Maine and New Hampshire in the nineteenth century. On the other hand, it is not commonly known that this was also a style of production manufactured in the 1800s by some of the potteries at the industry in Peabody (formerly South Danvers), Massachusetts.

The Peabody Historical Society owns a variety of objects in its collection that demonstrate this technique, which include a rare double-handled pot that was only glazed on the exterior around the handles. The potter's reason for this type of decoration would likely be explained that the glaze provided strength and added support to each handle, which is a feature that is not uncommon to find missing today on American-made red earthenware jugs, pots and pitchers.

A few years ago, I wrote about a nineteenth century red earthenware jar that was only partially glazed on the exterior, which had been brokered into Historic Deerfield in Deerfield, Massachusetts, as part of the William T. Brandon Collection of American Redware and Ceramics. I had speculated that a reasonable attribution for this object was that it was likely made in Peabody, where there are known objects decorated with a similar glaze color and partial exterior glaze.

For example, I recovered sherds that appear related to this type of production with a matching glaze at the site of the Osborn/Reed/Paige Pottery in Peabody with my niece, Alexis in January 2016. These sherds have since been published in a feature story that I wrote about the potter's industry in Peabody for the November 2017 issue of the New England Antiques Journal. Similar objects attributed to Peabody are also owned by the Peabody Essex Museum that retain nineteenth century histories of ownership in Salem, Massachusetts.

However, Historic Deerfield's jar was also accompanied with a strong local provenance written in pencil on the base explaining that it had been found in Wilmington, Massachusetts in 1915. I also wrote about a large matching jar that I discovered a few years ago at an estate sale nearby in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Nonetheless, it was sometime late last year that I found a smaller version of one of the jars that I just described, while Christmas shopping with my niece near central New Hampshire. We were not able to obtain much information about the history of this jar, but it was said that the jar was likely found in a house in either Massachusetts or New Hampshire.

Red Earthenware Jars Likely Made in Peabody, Mass.

(Left) 19th Century Red Earthenware Jar Likely Made in Peabody, Mass.

Discovered a Few Years Ago in Gloucester, Mass.

A Matching Jar is Owned by Historic Deerfield

Stands 12 1/2" Tall

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(Right) 19th Century Red Earthenware Jar Likely Made in Peabody, Mass.

Discovered in December 2017 Near Central New Hampshire

Stands 7 1/4" Tall

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