While exchanging some messages a few days ago with Connor Rush, who works for Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates in Mount Crawford, Virginia, he observed something about a style of production in Western New York that I had also noticed, and will be discussed in my forthcoming two-volume Western New York book, titled, America's Great Awakening and Migration: The Red Earthenware of Western New York. There was a lot of slip decorated red earthenware made at the circa 1818-1831 Nathaniel Rochester (1752-1831) Pottery in West Bloomfield, New York, whereas much of the two-and-three-colored slip that was applied on such forms as jars and pitchers was done so that the slip ran sideways on the objects, although Rochester was not the potter himself, and the potter or potters who worked for him have not been identified. This style of slip is a rather unique technique for production in the United States in the nineteenth century.
However, Rochester did have strong ties to Hagerstown, Maryland, which is actually where he relocated from in 1790s, but even though he moved north, Rochester still kept his connections in the city, where he held political positions in the early 1800s, as well as being involved with the local banking system, etc. Interestingly, this style of slip decoration was also perhaps manufactured in Hagerstown with a similar technique, as well as similar colors.
Nonetheless, this is an excerpt from my forthcoming Western New York book, which is the ninth installment in my pottery book series, "As previously noted in this chapter, Nathaniel Rochester had strong ties to Hagerstown, Maryland, although the potter or potters who worked for him are not entirely known. But what is evident with some of the slip decorated wares produced at the Rochester Pottery in West Bloomfield is the use of two and three-colored slip decorated wares, some of which were manufactured with multiple chambered slip cups. A lot of the slip applied at the Rochester Pottery was also done so where it flowed sideways on the object, a rather unusual style when compared to a lot of the wares produced with slip elsewhere in America in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. However, this was also a style that was perhaps produced as part of the potting tradition in Hagerstown about the same period, and this may have been the origin of this potting technique in West Bloomfield."
Furthermore, there is an example of this type of production that is included as part of Pook & Pook's upcoming sale later this month in Downington, Pennsylvania: https://live.pookandpook.com/online-auctions/pook/shenandoah-valley-redware-crock-6954030.
For more information about the Rochester Pottery - see a feature story I wrote for the June 7, 2024 issue of Antiques And The Arts Weekly, titled, Nathaniel Rochester's Red Earthenware Pottery: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2024/05/new-published-feature-story-in-antiques.html.
Note: I also want to mention that the potting tradition in Hagerstown also had family ties to production in Ontario, Canada, which would have traveled through Western New York - for more information - see a feature story I wrote for the April 19, 2024 issue of Antiques And the Arts Weekly, titled, Religious Red Earthenware Tobacco Jars Manufactured In The Mid-Atlantic Region & Waterloo, Ontario, Canada: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2024/04/new-published-feature-story-in-antiques_11.html.
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
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