19th Century Red Earthenware Slipware Jar Recovered from Beneath a House in New Orleans

Last week, I posted an article that showed a fascinating nineteenth century red earthenware jug recovered in New Orleans. According to the person who found the object, "The jug was dug many years ago from the bottom of a well on Tulane Avenue in New Orleans. The jug is believed to have been manufactured during the circa 1840-1860 period."

Tulane Avenue is located only a few blocks from the Mississippi River, which is how I assume this jug found its way into New Orleans in the 1800s, seeing this doesn't appear to be a type of local production. Although, I believe this jug was likely manufactured in a community with access to the river, probably having been produced by a Midwestern or Southern potter. That access could have included the actual pottery business or a merchant who peddled wares throughout the region.

According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, "New Orleans, like most waterside cities, was founded because of its close proximity to the Mississippi River that provided much economic benefit.

In its "golden age," New Orleans was known as the "marketplace of the wealth of the West" because of its strategic location at the center of trade between cultures and goods. The popular expansion of steamboat use in the early 1800s revolutionized transport along the river, basically creating the huge river transport industry that is in existence today. Trips from St. Louis to New Orleans that used to take four months now took only three days by steamboat. By 1853, the thriving New Orleans was one of the five largest metropolises in the United States. Unfortunately, the city did see a decline, as a result of the Civil War and the invention of the railroad."

Nevertheless, the Mississippi River was a major resource utilized for trade in the nineteenth century, bordering and running through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana, as well as a major connection to the Ohio River and those states.

I also learned last week of another interesting object that was recovered about a mile from where the jug was found in New Orleans. This slip-decorated jar, which I presume is American-made was found by Michael Burkett inside a crawl space underneath a circa 1860s house on North Roman Street. 

The slipware jar was recovered alongside nineteenth century kaolin pipes, clay marbles, porcelain dollhouse toys, stoneware, imported European ceramics, and glass bottles, among other objects.

Note: For more information about some of the objects recovered in New Orleans, I suggest joining Michael Burkett's Facebook page, French Quarter Relics.

Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Jar Recovered in New Orleans

 19th Century Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Jar

Recovered from a Crawl Space Underneath a Circa 1860s House in New Orleans

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Photo Courtesy: Michael Burkett

House on North Roman Street in New Orleans Where the Red Earthenware Jar was Found

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Photo Courtesy: Google Images

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