EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: Another Example of William Pecker's Stoneware Production from Merrimacport, Massachusetts

Thursday, November 8, 2018

Another Example of William Pecker's Stoneware Production from Merrimacport, Massachusetts

While southern pottery was another huge success at Crocker Farm's recent auction last weekend in Sparks, Maryland, the highlight of the sale was certainly a nineteenth century salt-glazed stoneware temperance snake jug from the Cornwall Kirkpatrick (1814-1890) and Wallace Kirkpatrick (1828-1896) pottery (active 1859-1896) in Anna, Illinois.

This jug is similar in manufacture to a temperance snake jug I wrote about this past June, which the Kirkpatricks made for caricature artist Thomas Nast (1840-1902), in recognition of his published efforts in Harper's Weekly, exposing the corruption involving William Magear "Boss" Tweed (1823-1878) and his gang of politicians and cronies at Tammany Hall in New York City in the 1860s and 1870s. This jug is now proudly and prominently displayed at the New York Historical Society in Manhattan.

But I also want to document another example of William Pecker's rare circa 1790-1820 stoneware production, which also sold at Crocker Farm on Saturday November 3. Any type of stoneware marked by Pecker is very rare to find today; to my knowledge, there are currently less than ten examples known impressed Wm Pecker, although that figure may absolutely climb as longtime stoneware and antique collections are brought to the public market, especially those that may emerge in the coming years.

Note: It wasn't until the twenty-first century that William Pecker was identified as a stoneware potter; in fact, for at least the last 100 years, he was regarded in publication as only a red earthenware potter. This is a type of production that had been almost entirely forgotten since the nineteenth century.

However, that information has changed - Pecker is regarded today as a potter equally skilled in both brands of production, such an accomplishment that is rarely matched elsewhere in New England before 1820.

For more Information: Check the right column on this website under "Merrimacport, MA Archaeology," in order to see some of the stoneware artifacts and kiln waste recovered from the site of the Pecker Pottery.

Two-Gallon Marked William Pecker Stoneware Jug