EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: A Beautifully Glazed 19th Century Earthenware Jar or Vase Attributed to Simon Thomas Humberstone in Toronto, Ontario

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

A Beautifully Glazed 19th Century Earthenware Jar or Vase Attributed to Simon Thomas Humberstone in Toronto, Ontario

As I wrote in a post earlier this month, I was the winning bidder in one lot from the John Wine Collection that sold at Miller & Miller Auctions in New Hamburg, Ontario. This beautifully glazed nineteenth century earthenware jar is attributed to Simon Thomas Humberstone in North York, Toronto, Ontario. The attribution for this form was determined in the twentieth century from existing objects owned by the Humberstone family.

In 1984, the University of Toronto Press published author Elizabeth Collard's (1917-2001) book, Nineteenth-Century Pottery and Porcelain in Canada, Second Edition. Some of the objects illustrated in the book were from her personal collection, including a great nineteenth century earthenware jar or vase attributed to Simon Thomas Humberstone in North York, Toronto that was illustrated in plate 121. It was described as a baluster vase with relief horizontal bands, decorated in a mottled green and yellow glaze with a buff body.

North York is one of six divisions of Toronto, located directly north of old Toronto, and with a population today of nearly 700,000 people. According to the North York Historical Society, "York became an economic centre attracting merchants, entrepreneurs and settlers in the nineteenth century. With about 50,000 acres of gently rolling countryside, and Yonge Street as the main road, villages sprang up at crossroads, and wherever there was water-power for mills. In 1922, the Township of North York was incorporated, with a population of 6,000."

After Elizabeth Collard died in 2001, the ceramics from her estate were sold by Ritchies Auctioneers and Appraisers in Toronto in December 2002, which included some of the pottery illustrated in her book, such as the Humberstone vase. Here is a link to the auction catalog should anyone reading this want to see the ceramics.

According to the Archives of Ontario, "Simon Thomas Humberstone (1846-1915) was the most well known potter in the Humberstone family of potters, and was very active in conservative politics in Ontario.

The Humberstone family originally moved from Staffordshire, England to Philadelphia, then to Canada at the time of the American Revolution. Samuel Humberstone (ca. 1744-1823) established one of the first potteries in Upper Canada on the land he was granted in Augusta Township in Grenville County.

Samuel Humberstone's son Thomas (1776-1849) established his own pottery in York County in 1798. His son, Thomas Humberstone Junior (1811-1895) carried on pottery at York Mills, Thornhill, Willowdale, and at Newton Brook (west side of Yonge Street, south of Steeles Avenue).

Simon Thomas Humberstone came to be the most well known of all the Humberstone potters. He engaged in potting and Conservative politics for almost fifty years. He was a candidate for the Conservative Party, and served as Deputy Reeve and later as Reeve of York Township. Under his direction, a large pottery was erected at the Yonge and Steeles site. Works from this site were known as "Newton Brook Pottery. S.T. Humberstone. Stoneware, Earthenware and Rockingham." While Humberstone made the usual brownwares and red flowerpots, he also carried out extensive experimentation with a variety of coloured glazes and shapes."

The form of this jar or vase combined with the great glaze is possibly among the types of experimentation that Humberstone participated with at his pottery.

Earthenware Jar or Vase Attributed to Simon Thomas Humberstone in Toronto, Ontario