Two Outstanding 19th Century Red Earthenware Figural Bottles from Salem, North Carolina that were Once Owned by Garrison and Diana Stradling in New York City

During an appraisal conducted by New York City ceramic specialist Garrison Stradling on the Antiques Roadshow in 2019, he described a green glazed circa 1801-1829 red earthenware fish bottle from Salem, North Carolina as "the smallest example that he had ever seen." The bottle also retained an early history of nineteenth century family ownership (link to episode: https://pbswisconsin.org/watch/antiques-roadshow/appraisal-moravian-fish-bottle-ca-1810-n040kb/).

According to the book, Art in Clay: Masterworks of North Carolina Earthenware, "Moravian potters in North Carolina made press-molded earthenware for more than one hundred twenty-five years. The range of forms documented by surviving objects, molds, and references in pottery inventories is far greater than that of any contemporary American ceramic tradition. From smoking pipes to stove tiles, the Moravian potters in Bethabara (historic area in Salem-Winston, North Carolina) and Salem, North Carolina expanded the production of press-molded earthenware to include figural bottles and castors, non-figural bottles, and toys. Rudolph Christ (1750-1833) can be credited for the successful production and marketing of press-molded figural wares during his tenure as master of pottery at Salem (1789-1821).

Of all the figural bottles produced in Salem, fish survive in the greatest number. Most are glazed green on the outside but examples decorated in tortoiseshell colors are known. Fish appear in the April 30, 1801 inventory of the Salem pottery valued at 1 shilling 6 pence each. Three sizes were available the following year, and by 1806 the pottery was producing four patterns - the number represented by surviving molds listed in the 1828 inventory."

Furthermore, according to Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts in North Carolina, "Christ apprenticed under Gottfried Aust (1722-1788) in Salem. He established his own pottery in Bethabara in 1786 and worked there until 1789. He succeeded Aust as master potter in Salem from 1789 to 1821. The production of press-molded wares also continued through the tenure of John Holland, who apprenticed under Rudolph Christ and as noted in Moravian records, inherited molds used in Christ’s shop. Rudolph Christ retired in 1821 and John Holland took over as Salem’s third master potter. Although the pottery ceased to operate as a congregational business in 1829, production of press-molded wares continued in the shop of Holland and another Salem potter, Heinrich Schaffner until at least the middle of the nineteenth century."

Interestingly, while studying some of Diana and Garrison Stradling's archives last summer in Manhattan for my forthcoming two-volume New York book, I saw this slide of these two Moravian bottles that they once owned. It is unclear where these objects are today, although they are two outstanding examples! Related objects can be found today displayed at MESDA, the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan, among other museums. 

Note: For a possible record sale for this type of production - see a story that I posted to this website in January of 2023 about a tortoiseshell glazed fish bottle that sold at Sotheby's in New York City for nearly $140,000: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2023/01/an-outstanding-moravian-fish-bottle.html.

19th Century Red Earthenware Figural Bottles from Salem, N.C.

19th Century Red Earthenware Figural Bottles from Salem, N.C.

Circa 1801-1829

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Photo Courtesy: Garrison and Diana Stradling

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