A friend gave me an incredibly generous Christmas present yesterday that was purchased last month from the Bob and Nancy Skinner Collection (Skinner Auctions) that sold at Eldred's Auction Gallery on Cape Cod in Dennis, Massachusetts. This large three-color slip decorated red earthenware jar with a mottled glaze was most likely made at one of the potteries in the Bloomfield, New York area, circa 1820s, and will be published in my forthcoming 800-900 page Western New York book, due out later this year.
In fact, this jar may have been made at the Nathaniel Rochester (1752-1831) Pottery in West Bloomfield, although I am hesitant with that attribution on this particular object, seeing that there were other businesses in the area during this period that may have also produced this type of slip-decorated red earthenware.
Furthermore, I suspect that in some cases this jar could be misidentified for another location today if it were found in a different context, whereas I believe it is related to the other two slip-decorated red earthenware jars shown in this post, one of which was found decades ago in an early context of ownership in Western New York by Victor, New York collector and dealer Gene Pratt.
Interestingly, though, this jar was converted into a lamp decades ago, and when I took it apart yesterday, I found that it had not traveled far prior to being made into a lamp because Rochester, New York newspapers had been stuffed inside the jar that were dated "1959." My guess is that up until that year, and perhaps the next few decades, this jar had remained in the area that it was produced for upwards 130-150 years.
Note: And in case anyone is wondering - Yes, the newspapers will remain in the jar with the wooden lid! I am now in search of either a small Rockingham glazed stoneware, wooden or glass drawer pull from Sandwich, Massachusetts to add to the lid as a finial.
A Very Good Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Jar From WNY
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
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