A good selection of red earthenware sold today at Briggs Auction in Garnet Valley, Pennsylvania, although a few objects really stood out to me from the rest, including a nineteenth century figure of a recumbent lion. The style of this lion is similar to some lions owned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art that are said to have been made at the Thomas Haig Pottery in Philadelphia.
However, there are clear differences in the form, but this lion also shares some similarities to one owned by the Wadsworth Athenuem Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut. The Wadsworth acquired their example from the collection of Albert Hastings Pitkin (1852-1913), who was a native and lifelong resident of Hartford and was among the first to systematically study and collect early American pottery. While visiting a local farmhouse in the spring of 1884, his discovery of two pieces of redware, or lead glazed earthenware pottery, spurred his passion for ceramics. Pitkin soon amassed a collection and became known as the leading authority on New England earthenware. In 1910 he joined the staff at the Wadsworth Antheneum as curator of the department of ceramics. During his tenure, he oversaw the installation of his own collections in the Morgan Memorial, and upon his death, his wife, Sarah Howard Loomis Pitkin, donated over three hundred objects to the museum.
According to the Wadsworth Atheneum, "These red earthenware lions offer a fascinating comparison of press-molding and free-hand sculpture. John Sanders sculpted the alert lion (left) from a block of clay, where excess clay was cut away to create the figure. The sleeping lion (right) was formed in a mold in which clay was pressed. The alert lion bears a roughness and unevenness indicative of potter's tools, while the sleeping lion has much softer modeling and evenness in its texture, hinting at the uniformity of mold impressions."
Furthermore, the sculpted lion was also painted in 1937 by artist John Matulis (1910-2000) as part of the Index of American Design for the National Gallery of Art at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. This lion was signed "John Sanders" and dated 1817, although I have not been able to determine any other information about the career of Sanders: https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.20482.html.
Nevertheless, the group lot consisting of the lion with the two nineteenth century flowerpots sold today for $300 plus the buyer's premium.
For the rest of the pottery in today's sale - see the auction catalog: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/catalog/352667_december-6-fine-estates-auction/.
Note: Here is a link to a story that I posted to this website in the winter of 2023 about a nineteenth century red earthenware lion that I found near Portland, Maine, which I thought may have been made in Philadelphia, although it also closely resembles the example owned by the Wadsworth Atheneum: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2023/02/a-red-earthenware-lion-found-yesterday.html.
For more information about Albert Hastings Pitkin - see a feature story I wrote for the April 12, 2019 issue of Antiques & Auctions News, titled, The Albert Hastings Pitkin Collection: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2019/05/the-albert-hastings-pitkin-collection.html.
19th Century Recumbent Red Earthenware Lion
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