The site of this business was first visited by Massachusetts author, Lura Woodside Watkins in 1945, and it was later excavated by archaeologists in the 1990s. The archaeology is kept today at Plimouth Plantation and was also a subject for a master's thesis in 2015 by Martha Sulya for the University of Massachusetts at Boston, entitled, 'Ubiquitous and Unfamiliar: Earthenware Pottery Production Techniques and the Bradford Family Pottery in Kingston, MA.'
According to Lura Woodside Watkins (Early New England Potters and Their Wares), "The origin of an earthenware shop in Kingston, Massachusetts, formerly a part of Plymouth is uncertain. It was run by the Bradfords, circa 1780s-1870s descendants of Plymouth's early governor William Bradford (1590-1657), but where they learned their trade is a bit of a mystery.
We visited the Bradford site in 1945 for we found quantities of sherds. Pots glazed on the inside were a common item, as elsewhere, but were peculiar in having an impressed decoration effected by a cogglewheel a little distance below the rim."
With that said, the following pair of pitchers are believed to be related - they belong to a group of known pitchers in existence today, which are often attributed to Maine with no further information. I believe the Maine attribution may have actually materialized at the Christopher Huntington Sale in Maine in 1974; although, the Huntington Collection included red earthenware objects from all over New England.
I noted last winter that the coggle decoration applied on the center pitcher matches a highly unusual coggle recovered by both Watkins and archaeologists at the site of the Bradford Pottery. Personally, I have not seen this exact coggle decoration applied anywhere else in New England, but it exists on some forms today, including a large jar published in Sulya's master's thesis.
I visited the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. last week in order to study the artifacts recovered by Watkins in Kingston. But I also brought the pitcher in the center to the museum to compare to the coggle decorated sherds. My conclusion is that the same coggle or coggles was used to decorate the pitcher and the sherds.
Note: I have also included a wonderful jar in some of the following pictures, which upon close inspection in production, form and glaze appears related to both pitchers. Nevertheless, the Bradford Pottery in Kingston appears to have been a major eighteenth and nineteenth pottery that deserves a lot more attention today.
Three Red Earthenware Objects
18th/19th Century Red Earthenware that All Appear Related
Very Possibly Manufactured at the Bradford Pottery in Kingston, Mass.
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Photo Courtesy: Private Collections
Another View of the Objects
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Photo Courtesy: Private Collections
The Handles Appear to be From the Same Manufacturer
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Photo Courtesy: Private Collections
Sherds Recovered at the Site of the Bradford Pottery in Kingston, Mass.
The Coggle on the Pitcher and Sherd Matches
Sherd Recoverd at the Site of Bradford Pottery in Kingston, Mass.
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Photo Courtesy: National Museum of American at the Smithsonian
The Coggle on the Pitcher and Sherd Matches
Sherd Recoverd at the Site of Bradford Pottery in Kingston, Mass.
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Photo Courtesy: National Museum of American at the Smithsonian
The Coggle on the Pitcher and Sherd Matches
Sherd Recoverd at the Site of Bradford Pottery in Kingston, Mass.
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Photo Courtesy: National Museum of American at the Smithsonian
Another Type of Coggle Applied at the Bradford Pottery in Kingston, Mass.
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Photo Courtesy: National Museum of American at the Smithsonian
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
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