EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: Two Stoneware Jugs Made in Boston in the 1790s: One Owned by the Brooklyn Museum and a Second Recently Acquired by the New York State Museum

Tuesday, July 16, 2024

Two Stoneware Jugs Made in Boston in the 1790s: One Owned by the Brooklyn Museum and a Second Recently Acquired by the New York State Museum

Among the notable museum collections of early American pottery today are ones that are currently being added to by William and Susan Mariner at the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts in Salem-Winston, North Carolina and Adam Weitsman's Collection at the New York State Museum in Albany, New York.

But there are also a number of early benefactors at other American museums and institutions, such as Dr. Walter Hough (1859-1935), John Paul Remensnyder (1898-1981) and Lura Woodside Watkins (1897-1982) at the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., Edwin Atlee Barber (1851-1916) at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Henry Francis du Pont (1880-1969) at Winterthur Museum in Delaware, Emily Johnston (1851-1942) and Roberts Weeks DeForest (1848-1931) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Albert Hastings Pitkin (1852-1917) at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut, among others.

Although, among the other notable contributors was Arthur W. Clement (1878-1952), who was a collector of early American ceramics and an important donor of pottery to museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum in New York City.

Furthermore, ff you have ever visited the Brooklyn Museum, then you have likely viewed a number of stoneware objects that were gifted by Arthur W. Clement (1878-1952) to the museum. Among the objects that I have always admired from this collection is a late eighteenth century stoneware jug that was made by Jonathan Fenton (1766-1835) at the Lynn Street Pottery in Boston in the 1790s. The jug is marked "BOSTON," and decorated with Fenton's cartouche: https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/1597.

Fenton's work is also a subject that can be read about in a research article written by Lorraine German for the 2019 issue of Ceramics in America, titled, Eighteenth-Century Boston Stoneware: Appealing to a Local Market: https://chipstone.org/article.php/826/Ceramics-in-America-2019/Eighteenth-Century-Boston-Stoneware:-Appealing-to-a-Local-Market.

Nonetheless, a similar jug to that owned by the Brooklyn Museum showed up at a country auction in New Hampshire a few years ago, which was also made by Fenton. This jug is now part of Adam Weitsman's Collection at the New York State Museum, although what is extraordinary about this object is the fact that it is perhaps the only jug known to exist today that is marked “BOSTON,” impressed with Fenton’s fish and impressed with Fenton’s “JF” cartouche. It was discovered in a group lot by Exeter, New Hampshire antiques dealer Richard Kenney, whereas the jug had previously descended through the Chase family of Kittery Point, Maine.

Update: There is a jar known with a similar style of decoration: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2024/07/an-18th-century-stoneware-jar.html.

Boston Stoneware Jug Recently Acquired by the NYSM

Late 18th Century Stoneware Jug

Made by Jonathan Fenton (1766-1835) at the Lynn Street Pottery in Boston

Circa 1793-1796

Now Part of Adam Weitsman's Collection at the NYSM