Four 19th Century Earthenware Vases Made at the Chelsea Keramic Arts Works in Massachusetts in 1879 for the John J. Glessner House in Chicago

Earlier this year, I discussed some custom made pottery manufactured for a prestigious estate in Massachusetts in the early 1900s, as part of a feature story I wrote that was published in the February 9, 2024 issue of Antiques And The Arts Weekly, titled, The Salt-Glazed Stoneware Made By Russell Crook, South Lincoln, Mass.: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2024/01/published-feature-story-in-antiques-and.html?m=1. Nonetheless, this was not an anomaly, whereas in one way or another, there were other potters in Massachusetts in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century that also fulfilled custom orders.

For instance, in the collection of John J. Glessner House in Chicago are four earthenware objects that were commissioned from the Chelsea Keramic Arts Works in Chelsea, Massachusetts. The vase shown in this post is one of the examples that was produced in 1879 for the Glessners by Isaac E. Scott (1845-1920) in Chelsea. The Chelsea Keramic Art Works was founded in 1866 by Alexander. W. Robertson (1829-1906), where the firm was known for producing wares of very high quality both in materials and design, and remained in operation until 1889.

Additionally, the Glessner House is an architecturally important nineteenth century residence that was built during the Gilded Age, and it was designed in 1885–1886 by architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-1886) and completed in 1887. The property was designated a Chicago Landmark on October 14, 1970. The site was also listed in the National Register of Historic Places on April 17, 1970, and as a National Historic Landmark on January 7, 1976; today it is maintained as a house museum.

Furthermore, Isaac Scott played a central role in the life of the Glessners from the time of their initial meeting at the Interstate Industrial Exposition in 1875, until his death in 1920, manufacturing a variety of objects from differential materials for the house.  The bulk of the pieces made by Scott for the family were created between 1875 and 1883, the year he moved to New York.  By 1889 he had relocated to Boston, where he taught at the Eliot School in Jamaica Plain, an institution devoted to arts and crafts

Note: This vase was displayed about fifteen years ago at the Art Institute of Chicago, as part of their exhibit and catalog, "Apostles of Beauty: Arts and Crafts from Britain to Chicago," which ran from November 7, 2009 to January 31, 2010.

Earthenware Vases Made at the Chelsea Keramic Arts Works

19th Century Earthenware Vase Made at the Chelsea Keramic Art Works

Made at the Pottery by Isaac E. Scott in 1879

Scott Made Four of These for the John J. Glessner House in Chicago

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Photo Courtesy: John J. Glessner House

Two of the Four Vases that Scott Made in Chelsea for the Glessner House

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Photo Courtesy: John J. Glessner House

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