Two 18th or Early 19th Century Red Earthenware Dishes Adorned with Slip Decorated Triangles

I'm sure some of the longtime antiques dealers in southeastern Massachusetts and Cape Cod may have seen more of these types of eighteenth or early nineteenth century slip decorated red earthenware dishes through the span of their careers, although these are two of the few examples that I have seen with a triangle in the center, whether they are owned privately or found in a museum collection today. I believe this type of production might be from Bristol County, Massachusetts. The larger pan shown below was recently found in a private collection in Ohio, while the smaller example has been owned for decades in various private collections in New England.

The reason that this decoration caught my attention recently is because of a presentation or some sort of personalized slip decorated jar that sold last fall at Crocker Farm in Sparks, Maryland, which was adorned with four related triangles. That jar was inscribed twice with the initials "LP," and was likely made at the Purinton Pottery for a member of the Purinton family in Somerset, Bristol County, Massachusetts. Interestingly, whoever applied the slip on the jar appears to be the same hand that applied the slip decoration on two important Bristol County marriage jars made for George and Debby Purinton that are displayed today in the Americana Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan from the Robert A. Ellison Jr. Collection. 

It is all theory at the moment, however I want to believe that the triangle decoration means something more than 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.

Are there other examples of these types of dishes with triangles known today? I would really enjoy hearing about any other examples that are known.

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/.

Note: I have also posted pictures of some of the accurately identified types of slip decorated dishes that were produced in southeastern Massachusetts (likely Bristol County), as a well as possibly some examples produced in Essex County, Massachusetts in the eighteenth and/or early nineteenth century. Most of these objects have previously been published in various feature stories and books that I have written, as well as Massachusetts author Lura Woodside Watkins' (1897-1982) book, Early New England Potters and Their Wares. I also want to note that there was a variety of slip decorated red earthenware made in Massachusetts before the American Revolution, although there is not a lot of evidence of this type of production happening in the coastal part of the state after 1775.

Red Earthenware Dishes Adorned with Slip Decorated Triangles

18th or Early 19th Century Slip Decorated Red Earthenware Dish

Possibly Made in Southeastern Mass., Perhaps Bristol County, Mass.

Measures 12 3/8" in Diameter

See Article for More Information

A View of the Back

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(Right) Another Type of of Dish with a Triangle

Measures 9" in Diameter

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Slip Decorated Pottery Made in SE Mass. and Bristol County, Mass.

18th and/or Early 19th Century Slip Decorated Red Earthenware Dishes

Some Published in Early New England Potters and Their Wares

All Likely Made in Southeastern Mass., Perhaps Bristol County, Mass.

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: The Smithsonian Institute and Old Sturbridge Village

(Left) 18th or Early 19th Century Slip Decorated Red Earthenware Mug

Published in Early New England Potters and Their Wares

Likely Made in Southeastern Mass., Perhaps Bristol County, Mass.

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Photo Courtesy: National Museum of American History at The Smithsonian Institute

(Left) A View of the Mug's Handle

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Photo Courtesy: National Museum of American History at The Smithsonian Institute

18th or Early 19th Century Slip Decorated Red Earthenware Dish

Likely Made in Southeastern Mass., Perhaps Bristol County, Mass.

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Little Compton, Rhode Island Historical Society

Slip Decorated Pottery Possibly Made in Essex County, Mass.

18th or Early 19th Century Slip Decorated Red Earthenware Dish

Possibly Related to Archaeological Evidence Recovered in Danvers, Mass.

Possibly Made in Essex County, Mass.

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Photo Courtesy: Old Sturbridge Village

18th or Early 19th Century Slip Decorated Red Earthenware Dish Sherd

Archaeological Evidence Recovered in Danvers, Mass.

Possibly Made in Essex County, Mass.

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18th or Early 19th Century Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Pan

Recovered Beneath a Dairy at the Site of the Paine House on Greenwood Farm in Ipswich, Mass.

Likely Made in Essex County, Mass.

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Photo Courtesy: Trustees of the Reservations

Remains of an 18th or Early 19th Century Slip Decorated Red Earthenware Dish

Recovered at the Site of the African-American Meeting House in Boston

The Style of the Slip on this Pan Closely Resemble the Sherds Shown Above from Ipswich

But is also Resembles Production in Pennsylvania, etc.

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Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Department

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