For those of you who read my second book, The Moses B. Paige Company: The Last of the Peabody Potteries, then you probably know that the Topsfield, Massachusetts Historical Society owns a significant collection of red earthenware made at the Paige Pottery in Peabody, Massachusetts, which was purchased brand new from the pottery in the early 1900s. It is an amazing collection that the museum purchased back then in order to accent their antiques collection, although nowadays, these objects are perhaps the most significant collection owned by the historical society, seeing that it entails dozens of pieces in basically as-made condition.
I learned about the collection as I was working on my book from Massachusetts potter Rick Hamelin - he said they had handled pots, plates, cups and mugs. But I was so surprised to see what they actually had while opening cabinet after cabinet inside the kitchen at the museum's seventeenth century Parson-Capen House.
In fact, it is the largest collection of Paige Pottery in the country, where related objects can be found in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts, the Peabody Historical Society and the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. I have always said that the Paige Pottery is an overlooked business, which should be held in the same regard as the Medinger and Stahl potteries in Pennsylvania, as well as other businesses from the same period.
However, among the objects owned by the Topsfield Historical Society are dozens of mugs made by two different potters, although the majority of them can be attributed to John Donovan's (1851-1932) production at the Paige Pottery. Interestingly, though, very few of these mugs survive today outside of this collection; until recently, the only other mug I have seen is illustrated on the cover of my book, which I found years ago in southern Vermont.
However, Rick Hamelin recently discovered this mug on Cape Cod, which he generously picked up for me - this mug was also made by John Donovan and is considered to be quite rare today outside of the Topsfield Historical Society. This is only the second mug I have seen outside of a museum collection.
According to Massachusetts author Lura Woodside Watkins's (1897-1982) book, Early New England Potters and Their Wares, "Perhaps the most famous craftsmen employed at the Paige Pottery was John Donovan, who was born in Exeter, New Hampshire in 1851 and died in 1932. He was a turner for nearly sixty years, having become a skilled potter at the age of fifteen. I once watched John Donovan at work making kitchen bowls. He was able to complete one in from two to three minutes. One by one they would be laid on the drying board. Donovan meantime chatting quietly with his visitors; the board would be carried away, and he would begin another round. Speed was an important consideration in producing utilitarian vessels, but it took phenomenal skill to make them of uniform shape at the same time. During Donovan's day the Paige Pottery sold commercially little herb pots with covers and a lip, almost identical to those made in the early days of potting. They were not made as reproductions, but in the ordinary course of events."
A Rare Red Earthenware Mug Attributed to the Paige Pottery in Peabody, Mass.
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