A Rare Marked 19th Century Red Earthenware Vase from Beverly, Mass. Owned by the Colonel Ashley House

While speaking at the Bidwell House Museum last weekend in the Berkshires in Monterey, Massachusetts, I visited the circa 1735 Colonel Ashley House afterwards in Sheffield, Massachusetts, where I was incredibly surprised to see the extent of this museum's red earthenware collection. In fact, it has to be among the best collections of New England red earthenware owned by any American museum today (i.e. National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institute, Old Sturbridge Village, Historic New England, etc.).

Among the objects that I did not expect to see was a circa 1870 or so red earthenware vase with a mottled glaze that was impressed on the base with a maker's mark, partially reading, "From C.A. LAWRENCE." 

Charles A. Lawrence (1829-1904) owned and operated a pottery business in Beverly, Massachusetts from the 1860s to around the time he died in 1904. This is an important business today, seeing that Lawrence's company was the first in America to advertise itself as a pottery that produced ancient style painted red earthenware, as early as 1872. Some other locals potteries soon followed in Chelsea, Massachusetts and North Cambridge, Massachusetts, but Lawrence predated their production. This is also a type of production that was already happening in Europe, although American potter's certainly took notice of this style of pottery at the Centennial Exposition of 1876 in Philadelphia, which resulted in even more businesses manufacturing ancient inspired shapes in the late 1870s through the early 1900s. The best known example of this type of production from Beverly is perhaps a painted jug that is displayed in the Americana Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/4584.

Nonetheless, I finalized my forthcoming 647-page eighth book earlier this week, titled, An Influential Family of Early Potters: The Clarks of New Hampshire and Related Businesses, and this vase will be included in the book, seeing that there is a short section about the Beverly Pottery. The reason for this is because the John Farmer Clark (1832-1885) Pottery in Concord, New Hampshire also produced some decorative wares in the late 1870s and 1880s, and for whatever reason, Lawrence was advertising his production during this period in Concord newspapers. It is also documented that the Beverly Pottery was shipping some production to Concord, based on information published in The Boston Globe on January 22, 1876.

For more information - see my first book, titled, The Beverly Pottery: The Wares of Charles A. Lawrence: https://historicbeverly.net/product/the-beverly-pottery-the-wares-of-charles-a-lawrence/.

Marked 19th Century Red Earthenware Vase from Beverly, Mass.

19th Century Red Earthenware Vase with a Mottled Glaze

Made at the C.A. Lawrence Pottery in Beverly, Mass.

The Base is Impressed with the Maker's Mark

Circa 1870 or so

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: The Col. Ashley House

The Mark on the Base Partially Reads, "From C.A. LAWRENCE"

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: The Col. Ashley House

Information About the Beverly Pottery Published in The Boston Globe on Jan. 22 1876

This Information Cites an Order of Wares that were Shipped to Concord, N.H.

This Information is Expanded Upon in my Forthcoming N.H. Book

See Article for More Information

Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...