Over the weekend, I posted this late eighteenth or early nineteenth century slip decorated red earthenware dish and milk pan to my Instagram account, writing: While working on my sixth book this week due out next year, titled, A City of the River: The Early Red Earthenware of the Hartford, Connecticut Area, it kind of dawned on me that I am surprised it is not widely known nor is it cited much that the history of the Nathaniel Seymour (1763-1849) Pottery in West Hartford is rather well documented in Albert Hastings Pitkin's (1852-1917) book from 1918, Early American Folk Pottery. In that book, Pitkin documents his interview and first hand-account with Seymour's grandson Major Frederick Seymour (1819-1903), who was also an employee at the pottery. In this interview, Pitkin documents the entire production process, such as how often the kiln was fired (50 times per year), the size of the kiln, the number of potters, among other aspects of the business. He also documents that the Seymours were not the only ones producing slipware in Hartford during this period, which is somewhat misunderstood today.
Nevertheless though, I have always wondered why there are so many slip decorated red earthenware dishes and milk pans attributed to the Seymour Pottery today - and this was all explained by Pitkin in 1918. It turns out these two forms were a priority at the business for a number of years from the 1790s through the early 1800s: "Dishes of one gallon capacity, sold for one dollar per dozen. Two gallon milk pans, for one dollar fifty cents per dozen. A piece must needs have been large, especially well-potted, and decorated, to have brought as much as two "Yankee shillings."
For more information about Pitkin, I recommend a research story I wrote for the April 19, 2019 issue of Antiques & Auction News, titled, The Albert Hastings Pitkin Collection.
Dish and Milk Pan Attributed to the Nathaniel Seymour Pottery in West Hartford, CT
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
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