This is a really good small nineteenth century red earthenware jug that I picked up earlier this month, which just sold as part of the Dr. Richard J. Wattenmaker Collection at Freeman’s | Hindman in Philadelphia; the jug is decorated with a really wonderful glaze of alternating brown-colored sponge decorated lines and dots, as well as a circular green glaze around the base and a dotted green glaze. I have never seen anything like it before; the manufacturer could have been located in either the Mid-Atlantic region or the American Northeast, likely before 1850. The jug stands just under six inches tall.
Furthermore, I showed this jug to a few knowledgable friends recently, and they remembered seeing it briefly on the national antiques show circuit decades ago, which I assume is how it was acquired by this collector. But they could not recall which dealer sold the jug, although the feeling is that it is possibly from New England, even though nobody who I spoke with has seen anything like it before.
However, this was a really good red earthenware collection that sold in Philadelphia last month, which included a number of very good objects, including an excellent early nineteenth century sgraffito decorated red earthenware plate: https://hindmanauctions.com/auctions/2083-For-the-Love-of-Barnes-The-Collection-of-Dr-Richard-J-Wattenmaker/lot/192.
That sgraffito decorated plate was reportedly made by John Leidy (1753-1818) in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, where another sgraffito decorated red earthenware plate with some similarities is owned as part of the collection of the Reading, Pennsylvania Public Museum, which is also attributed to Leidy. The museum acquired their plate in 1939, as a gift from Mr. and Mrs. Edwin A. Quiet. But there were multiple potters named John Leidy producing similar types of sgraffito and slip decorated red earthenware in southeastern Pennsylvania in the late eighteenth and nineteenth century; production from these potters is found in such art museums as the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Note: I also want to add that a three-gallon nineteenth century stoneware crock decorated with a folky fish that was made in Ohio sold in this collection in Philadelphia for just under $5,000, including the buyer's premium; if anyone is looking for an example of what I feel is a more attractive decorated fish from the same manufacturer, then there is one currently for sale at Antiques Associates At West Townsend in Massachusetts, contact them for more information: https://hindmanauctions.com/auctions/2083-For-the-Love-of-Barnes-The-Collection-of-Dr-Richard-J-Wattenmaker/lot/82.
An Outstanding 19th Century Red Earthenware Jug
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