Two Outstanding Pieces of Red Earthenware from a Private Connecticut Collection

This past summer, I wrote about a late eighteenth or early nineteenth century red earthenware jar that I acquired from Sheffield, Massachusetts antiques dealer Sam Herrup, which he had just purchased from a long-standing private collection in Connecticut. That jar is shown to the left in the first photo below, along with the second photo.

This jar does exhibit characteristics of wares made in coastal Massachusetts and by the Clark family in New Hampshire, circa 1775-1825, although, I firmly believe the highly unusual impressed decoration is related to archaeology that I have studied from the Bradford family pottery in Kingston, Massachusetts, which is kept at the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.,  as well as Plimouth Plantation in Plymouth, Massachusetts. In order to see exactly what I mean I suggest reading a research story I wrote for the May 2019 issue of  Maine Antique Digest, titled, "The Bradford Family Potteries in Massachusetts." This story demonstrates how this type of production is related to the Bradfords based on a comparison study that I conducted with my nephew Jason at the National Museum of American History.

Nonetheless, there were actually two really good pieces of red earthenware in that Connecticut antiques collection - and I decided a few weeks ago that they should really remain together. I ended acquiring a very unusual large eighteenth or early nineteenth century pitcher likely made by the Osborn family in South Danvers (now known as Peabody), Massachusetts. This is by far the largest Peabody pitcher that I have seen in either a private or museum collection and it certainly could date from the 1700s. It is also similar to artifacts recovered from an eighteenth century archaeological context at the site of the Narbonne House in Salem, Massachusetts.

Two Outstanding Pieces of Red Earthenware from a Private Connecticut  Collection

My Niece Alexis Holding Both Pieces of Red Earthenware

Each Had Been Owned Privately for Many Years in Connecticut

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Late 18th or Early 19th Century Red Earthenware Jar

Attributed to the Bradford Family Pottery in Kingston, Mass.

This Jar Matches Archaeological Evidence Collected at the Site of the Pottery

Stands 10" Tall

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18th or Early 19th Century Red Earthenware Pitcher

Attributed to the Osborn Family in South Danvers/Peabody, Mass.

Stands 11" Tall

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Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...