I posted these pictures to my Facebook and Instagram pages yesterday, hoping to get some feedback, writing, "This is an outstanding large and refined nineteenth century sponge decorated red earthenware jar that I recently bought in a group lot during an estate auction in Pennsylvania.
The jar stands an impressive eleven inches tall, although, I am not sure where it was made, whether it be from the Mid-Atlantic region or so, the Midwest or Ontario. It does not appear (to me) to be from New England or New York. The other pieces in the lot were a mottled green glazed jar likely from Illinois and another jar from either Pennsylvania, Long Island or Connecticut, so there does not appear to have been a regional aspect to how these objects were collected years ago."
The reason I suggested such a broad range of manufacture is because sponge decorated utilitarian pottery was made all over in the 1800s and early 1900s. However, I did leave out a picture of the base, whereas, its manufacture technique is different than most American household red earthenware.
Among the feedback I received was from Jeff Graybill, who thought this jar may have been made at the John Bell (1800-1880) Pottery in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, probably circa 1850-1880. I had wondered whether this could have been made in Waynesboro, but I have never seen anything like it before, and a number of objects made at the John Bell Pottery are stamped with the company's name. But the way the base was produced on this large jar, its refinement, the glaze colors and the articulated sponge design applied on both the rim and the body of the jar seem to be indicative of wares made in Waynesboro in the 1800s. In fact, the John Bell Pottery produced a wide variety of sponge decorated wares, including objects decorated in this exact same manner, where only the top part is covered.
But as I noted other potters produced this type of sponge decorated red earthenware, including a pitcher made at the Haig Pottery in Philadelphia owned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which was also produced with a similar base when compared to this jar.
Note: This jar sold in the most recent sale of Eileen Ball's antiques collection at Dovetail Auctions in Downington, Pennsylvania, a subsidiary of Pook & Pook Auctions. According to Dovetail Auctions, "Eileen moved to Bucks County in 1957, a time when refinished American colonial was in fashion. She was not drawn to the clean finishes of the time, however, and focused on form and rarity, always building her knowledge. Broken and dirty had no less value to her than whole and cleaned if it told her something new.
She enjoyed barn sales, auctions, and dusty antique shops. She always got along very well with dealers who, at first meeting, seemed the least personable. Like her, they were able to relate, sometimes better, to the people who lived before us and the objects they left behind for us."
An Excellent Large 19th Century Sponge Decorated Red Earthenware Jar
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