EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: 19th Century Red Earthenware Jug Acquired Last Weekend in New York City

Tuesday, September 15, 2020

19th Century Red Earthenware Jug Acquired Last Weekend in New York City

While visiting New York City last weekend with my niece Alexis, we ended up taking a detour from the city and visiting longtime Westchester, New York antiques dealer and collector Joe Moffitt. He owns a small collection of good pieces of red earthenware, and we purchased two of those objects.

This jug is the first of those pieces; I believe it originates in western New York sometime after 1850 - it may be related to Lorenzo Johnson in Newstead, New York and other potters who were manufacturing red earthenware during this period to appear like stoneware. In many ways, stoneware had superseded red earthenware production in this region by the mid-1800s, and some potters were manufacturing red earthenware forms to appear like stoneware. This jug is of particular interest because it is decorated in blue with initials, which could be highly significant, but I have yet to research the meaning behind it.

Interestingly, we had actually talked about the hundred or so years worth of dirt and grime that covered the jug, although, I decided to clean it with soap and water when I got home, revealing a really attractive glaze that was hidden beneath. The difference in how the jug appears can be seen in the following group of photos; the first photo shows how it appeared before it was cleaned, moments after we purchased it, and the remaining photos are from after it was cleaned.

Note: Here is a link to a story I also posted today about the second piece of red earthenware we acquired from this collection.

19th Century Red Earthenware Jug Made in Imitation of Stoneware