I acquired this eighteenth or early nineteenth century slip decorated red earthenware dish last night on eBay, a type of production often associated with the industry in Bristol County, Massachusetts. Although, what really stood out to me about this object was the slip decorated triangle found in the center, which is a symbol found on other slip decorated plates and pans made in Bristol County. This object is further embellished with three sets of crossing slip decorated lines. I was also told that the dish came out of a private collection in Ohio, although it was previously found at a farm sale in Kutztown, Pennsylvania.
But this type of triangle decoration is also found on a slip decorated red earthenware jar that sold in lot number 36 at Crocker Farm's autumn 2023 sale in Sparks, Maryland. The triangle design was placed on that jar four different times, which was likely made at the Purinton Pottery for a member of the Purinton family in Somerset, Bristol County, Massachusetts, probably in the early nineteenth century. The jar is also inscribed in slip twice with the initials "LP." The exact history behind the jar is not known, whether it was a presentation object, a marriage jar or having possessed some other significant meaning; however, whoever applied the slip on the jar appears to be the exact same hand that applied the slip decoration on two important Bristol County marriage jars that are displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan from the Robert A. Ellison Jr. Collection.
Interestingly, it is unclear to me if this triangle decoration means anything more that just merely being a decorative motif, although the majority of the potters who were working in Bristol County during this period were Quakers. The triangle also symbolizes many different things, including the concept of feet on the earth heart in heaven, ancient wisdom, mysticness, an energetic gateway, the holy trinity spirit, along with different types of energies, etc.
For more information - see my fifth published book, titled, A Celebrated Industry: The Historic Wares of Southeastern Massachusetts, Bristol County and Cape Cod: https://historicbeverly.net/product/a-celebrated-industry-the-historic-wares-of-southeastern-massachusetts-bristol-county-and-cape-cod/.
Slip Decorated Triangle Used on Some Pottery Made in Bristol County, Mass.
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