Three Outstanding 19th Century Slip-Decorated Objects from Western New York

Here are some more objects that will be illustrated in my forthcoming 700-800 page Western New York book, due out in 2024 from my publisher Historic Beverly in Massachusetts, titled, America's Great Awakening and Migration: The Red Earthenware of Western New York. This will be my ninth book in my pottery book series, whereas my eighth book will be out sometime soon and cover red earthenware production in parts of New Hampshire and related businesses located elsewhere in northern New England.

Nonetheless, these outstanding nineteenth century slip-decorated red earthenware objects are all a part of a recent major private pottery donation to Historic Deerfield in Massachusetts, whereas they represent a style of decoration often attributed to the Nathaniel Rochester (1752-1831) Pottery in Rochester, New York, circa 1818-1831. But slip-decorated red earthenware was also not exclusive to the Rochester Pottery in Western New York.

The top row shows three different sides of the same jar, which are adorned in multiple colors of slip; the bottom row shows two sides of a handle-pot and another jar.

Furthermore, there are some other objects like these known to exist today, including some of which are privately owned in Western New York, although I was also lucky to go through the storage collection at the Rochester Museum & Science Center this past June, where I was fortunate to unwrap some related pieces that had been boxed up and covered in bubblewrap since the early-1980s. Some of these objects had also been previously published in the 1974 museum exhibit catalog, Clay in the Hands of the Potter: An exhibition of pottery manufactured in the Rochester and Genesee Valley Region c. 1793-1900, as well as an article published in 1980 in Volume 9 of Northeast Historical Archaeology that was written by George Hamell, titled, Earthenwares and Salt-Glazed Stonewares of the Rochester-Genesee-Valley Region: An Overview.

19th Century Slip-Decorated Objects from Western New York

Three Outstanding 19th Century Slip-Decorated Objects from Western New York

All Will be Illustrated in my Forthcoming New York Book

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Photo Courtesy: Historic Deerfield

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