This is a rare hand-thrown circa 1920s-1930s turquoise and blue spotted glazed stoneware vase that stands 11 1/2 inches tall, which I found yesterday in southern Maine. This vase was made at the Zanesville Stoneware Company in Ohio, although I have only ever seen a few objects like this vase through the years.
Interestingly, this is actually the second one of this type that I found, whereas the other example was discovered in the Boston area in the summer of 2022 and it was entirely glazed yellow (now in a prominent art pottery collection in the South). Furthermore, the base on this object is marked in pencil with the shape number “B7,” which corresponds with other vases of this shape and size that are stamped on the base "B7."
The Zanesville Stoneware Company (1889-2002) operated for 115 years in Zanesville, Ohio under the direction of three generations of the Milman Linn family; Milman Linn, Sr., Milman Linn, Jr., and Milman "Bud" Linn. In their early years they produced standard items like crocks, churns, jugs, and jars, but eventually moved to garden ware. Its durability and wide range of glaze combinations, including eye-catching "drip" and "overflow" glazes, was extremely popular and garden ware became the company's specialty. "Hank" (Lawrence F.) Pickrull (1879-1950) continued the practice of hand throwing vessels for the Zanesville Stoneware Company long after their contemporaries, creating extremely large pieces that were very popular. The company was sold to the Robinson-Ransbottom Pottery Company (1920-2005) in 2002.
According to an article written by James L. Murphy for The Journal of the American Art Pottery Association in 2002, titled, Zanesville Stoneware Company: After 115 Years, "The Zanesville Stoneware story began in 1883 with the formation of the Ohio Encaustic Tile Co., a would-be rival to Zanesville's famous American Encaustic Tiling Co. However, matters did not go well for this fledgling decorative tile factory. It was abandoned by 1886. A new firm, E. G. Bowen and Co., began operation at the site on Coopermill Road the following year. In 1889 it was reorganized as the Zanesville Stoneware Co. At this point, Milman Linn, Sr., joined the company as vice-president. He quickly rose to become president. Originally, the pottery produced a standard line of crocks, churns, jugs, stew pans, butter jars, and milk pans, as well as a stenciled stoneware two-part water filter that remained in production for many years. Although their Albany slip-covered milk crock was elaborately marked on the bottom with large raised letters, most of the ware was unmarked. When it was marked, a cobalt stencil was generally applied in a rather slop.
Zanesville Stoneware was the first pottery in Ohio to use a muffle updraft kiln, which protected the ware from direct flame and made for more even burning. In 1889, a state factory inspector listed the firm as employing 25 people, who were making stoneware and flowerpots. By 1901, the pottery employed 50 men and one woman.
Around 1910, the company began the manufacture of garden ware and shortly thereafter developed a fine matte green glaze. Following World War I, it expanded its glaze lines, to include a variety of drip and multicolored “overflow” glazes.
By 1921, there were 100 employees, mostly men. Along with the artware - stoneware filters, cuspidors, flowerpots and jardinieres were still being made. In the late 1920s, tea sets were produced in a variety of colors. Although the company continued production of standard stoneware crocks, jugs, and kitchenware into the 1920s, including the decorated water filters featured on their letterhead, it was about this time that garden and patio ware also became very fashionable. Zanesville Stoneware began specializing in this product and never stopped—until this year."
Interestingly, later wares were frequently embossed “ZSC” on the base, whereas most Zanesville Stoneware is marked only by an impressed shape number. Some pieces were even made for specific florists and potteries, such as Zanesville’s Marco Pottery and The Old Pot Shop of Norwalk, Connecticut.
Note: Here is a link to a story I posted to this website in May of this year about a vase that retains a history of family ownership in New England -- http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2023/05/an-important-art-pottery-discovery.html.
Hand-Thrown Zanesville Stoneware Company Vase
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
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