EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: Wonderful 19th Century Stoneware Water Cooler on Display at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Wonderful 19th Century Stoneware Water Cooler on Display at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York

Last week, I visited upstate New York and New York City with my nephew Jason; we stopped at a few museums and also went to a New York Mets game against the San Francisco Giants at Citi Field in Queens. But our vacation actually began in Cooperstown, New York with the Fenimore Art Museum.

While there isn't a lot of pottery on display at the Fenimore Art Museum, there is an incredible selection of American folk art on permanent display, as well as the Thaw Collection of Native American artifacts, and a temporary display of landscape and historical paintings by the founder of the Hudson River School of New York artwork Thomas Cole (1801-1848).

However, we did find a terrific nineteenth century stoneware water cooler on display in the folk art exhibit that was made at the Fort Edward, New York Pottery Company during the circa 1859-1861 period. The cooler is decorated in cobalt with a wilderness scene and three deer.

According to the Fenimore, "While a variety of ceramics were made in the United States, stoneware was among the most practical because it was hard and dense, and did not require a lead glaze to make it watertight. Stoneware was created from clays found mainly in New Jersey and Long Island and shipped to potteries in upstate New York.

Three basic techniques were used to decorate stoneware: stamping, incising, and brushing or slip-cupping. As pottery production increased markedly in the 1840s, brushing was most commonly used because it could be done quickly with aesthetic results. This water cooler is unusual in that it is elaborately brushed. It was probably decorated by John Hilfinger (1826-1888) who worked as a decorator at both Fort Edward and the Bennington Potteries in Vermont."

Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY