I began working on my tenth book this week, titled, An Early Industry of Household Wares: The Red Earthenware of Salem Village, South Danvers and Peabody, Massachusetts. The Western New York book is up next, whereas I suspect this book will be published sometime next year!
Forthcoming Tenth Book!
This is a very neat find yesterday at a thrift store in Danvers, Massachusetts; I have been going to this store about once a month or so for the past year, in hopes that I may find an example of red earthenware made at one of the local potteries in Beverly or Peabody, Massachusetts.
I believe this large hand-thrown red earthenware flowerpot was made at the Moses Paige (ca. 1847/48-1941) Pottery in Peabody during the circa 1870s-1930s period. In fact, this is a type of flowerpot made by Guy Wolffe in Bantam, Connecticut, which he calls the "Peabody Pot," and among the customers that he has had for this type of flowerpot through the years was Steve Jobs (1955-2011), the founder of Apple Computers.
The flowerpots made at the M.B. Paige Pottery have been recovered from numerous late nineteenth and early twentieth century archaeological contexts in the Boston area. One of those Boston area customers was Isabella Stewart Gardner (1820-1924), who used the flowerpots in Fenway Court in the early 1900s for shrubs and small trees, where most of the pots were produced with handles, but not all of them.
Gardern's mother-in-law's greenhouse in Boston was also filled with flowerpots made at the M.B. Paige Pottery in the early 1900s; she had to have owned dozens of them, based on a photograph owned by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
Interestingly, I found one of the flowerpots made with handles more than a decade ago at a flea market in Rowley, Massachusetts, and I compared it to the one that I found yesterday: the throwing styles are the same, the bases are the same and they are basically the same height, although there were a number of potters employed at the Paige Pottery, so there will be subtle differences, as well
Furthermore, the flowerpot that I found at the flea market was actually discovered in an old barn in New Hampshire, whereas I note in my recently published eighth book, titled, An Influential Family of Early Potters: The Clarks of New Hampshire and Related Businesses, that red earthenware made at the Paige Pottery was regularly shipped to New Hampshire (and Maine), among other locations: https://historicbeverly.net/product/an-influential-family-of-early-potters-the-clarks-of-new-hampshire-and-related-businesses/.
Additionally, the base of the flowerpot that I found yesterday was cut from the potter's wheel with a wire or a string, and this is a technique seen with other objects produced in Peabody, such as chicken waterers and feeders.
Another notable context of ownership for the Peabody flowerpots is the Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts; the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. also owns a Peabody flowerpot with an attached saucer, although there are also a number of other museums.
These types of Peabody flowerpots were also displayed as part of a botanical exhibit at Smith College in western Massachusetts, titled, A Place To Take Root: https://www.smith.edu/garden/pastexhibits/flowerpots/potpage1.html.
Nevertheless, for more information about the M.B. Paige Pottery - see the second installment of my pottery book series, titled, The Moses B. Paige Company: The Last of the Peabody Potteries: https://historicbeverly.net/product/the-moses-b-paige-company-the-last-of-the-peabody-potteries/.
Note: The M.B. Paige Pottery operated a retail business in Charlestown, Massachusetts, which helped cater to the Boston market in the 1900s. But their production was also shipped all over the United States.
Red Earthenware Flowerpot Likely Made at the Paige Pottery in Peabody, Mass.
I have always wondered if there were any connections with nineteenth century American East Coast potters and the California Gold Rush of the 1840s and 1850s, and I believe I have finally identified a direct connection with the Drake family in Western New York, which will be discussed in detail in my forthcoming two-volume New York book, titled, America's Great Awakening and Migration: The Red Earthenware of Western New York: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2025/02/update-on-forthcoming-two-volume.html.
This connection involves Martin Holmes Drake (1832-1893), who is cited as a "19-year-old Potter" in the 1850 United States Federal Census in Bethany, Genesee County, New York, which is a red earthenware company that involved other family members during the circa 1840s to the early 1860s period: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2025/02/the-19th-century-drake-family-red.html.
But Drake quickly disappeared from Bethany in the early 1850s, opting for the Gold Rush in Amadore County, California, where he probably had previously learned of the 1849 California Gold Rush, while living in New York, which brought a massive wave of migration to California, with hundreds of thousands of people arriving in search of gold. This migration became known as the "forty-niners." Afterwards, Drake married in the late 1850s and moved to Southern Oregon, where he is listed as a farmer and a merchant for the remainder of his life, according to census records.
Nevertheless, in the heart of California’s Sierra Nevada mountains lies Amador County, a region renowned for its rich gold mining history. It all began in the 1840s when pioneers discovered gold at Sutter’s Mill, sparking the famous California Gold Rush. Thousands flocked to the area, including modern-day Amador County, in hopes of striking it rich. The county was officially established in 1854 and aptly named after José Maria Amador, a wealthy gold miner.
Interestingly, it was published in the 1884 book, History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos countries, “M. H. Drake: lives in Ashland; is a merchant and stock grower; was born in Steuben county, New York; came to state and county in 1860; was married in 1858, to Miss Martha Preater. Children, Ida (deceased), Fred M., Belle, May, and Ella.”
Furthermore, it was published in the 1904 book, Portrait and Biographical Record of Western Oregon: Containing Original Sketches of Many Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present: "In Ashland, Mr. Norris married Sarah May Drake, a native of Jacksonville, Ore., where her father, the late M. H. Drake, was a pioneer settler. Born and reared in Steuben county, N. Y., M. H. Drake came by way of Cape Horn to the Pacific coast in 1852, and for six or more years was engaged in mining in California, afterwards being in the stock business in the vicinity of Stockton. Coming to Oregon in 1859, he stopped at first in Portland, remaining there until September of that year, when he settled in Jackson county, taking up land, and engaging in the raising of stock, near Jacksonville. Removing with his family to Ashland in 1873, he resided here until his death, in 1893. He served for a time county commissioner of Jackson county, and was identified by membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He married Elizabeth Preator, who was born in Ione, Cal., of English ancestry, both of her parents having been natives of England. Mrs. Drake survived her husband, and is now living in Ashland. Mr. and Mrs. Drake became the parents of five children, namely: Frederick M., junior member of the firm of Vaupel, Norris & Drake; Ida, who died in the seventh year of her age; Belle, wife of J. S. Parson, of Ashland; Sarah May, now Mrs. Norris; and Ella, wife of George S. Calhoun, of Grants Pass, Ore. A native of Jacksonville, Ore., Frederick M. Drake was educated in the public schools of Jackson county, and for four years after leaving school was a clerk in his father's store. For seven years thereafter, he was a resident of Harney county, Ore., being associated with his father in the cattle business. On retiring from that industry he engaged in mercantile pursuits with his present partners, becoming junior member of the firm. A stanch Republican in his political convictions, Mr. Norris is a member, and ex-president, of the Ashland school board. He is also a member, and the vice-president, of the Ashland Board of Trade. He is connected with several fraternal organizations, being a member of the Knights of Pythias, of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and of the Woodmen of the World. Mrs. Norris is a member of the Presbyterian Church.”
Note: There is no known record that can prove if Martin Drake supplemented his income in Oregon as a farmer/merchant, while also producing pottery, similar to how his family worked in Western New York. But I wouldn't completely rule it out either.
Martin H. Drake: A Red Earthenware Potter from Bethany, New York
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
Some more red earthenware and stoneware sold yesterday from the Carole Wahler Collection at Broken Arch Auction Gallery in Weaverville, North Carolina, whereas much of her collection sold earlier this year at Crocker Farm in Sparks, Maryland: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2025/02/for-slip-decorated-red-earthenware-made.html.
Among the notable lots was a large nineteenth century handled red earthenware jar with a mottled green glaze that I thought may have been made in Western New York, which sold reasonably for $325 plus the buyer's premium: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/price-result/east-tennessee-red-clay-jar/.
Although, the nineteenth century stoneware from Edgefield, South Carolina and a stoneware jar made by the Craven Family in Tennessee seems to have been the most sought after lots, which included a jar attributed to the enslaved African American potter Dave Drake (ca. 1800-1873) in Edgefield; that jar sold for $2,650 plus the buyer's premium.
There was also an unmarked stoneware jug decorated with slip that is closely related to marked examples displayed a few years ago at an exhibit at the McKissick Museum at the University of South Carolina, titled, Swag and Tassel: The Innovative Stoneware of Thomas Chandler. Nonetheless, the jug sold for $2,750 plus the buyer's premium: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/198600733_edgefield-stoneware-jug.
For more information - see a three-page feature story I wrote for the October 4, 2019 issue of Antiques & Auction News, titled, Thomas Chandler's Pottery Production: McKissick Museum of University of South Carolina Holds Innovative Exhibition - https://antiquesandauctionnews.net/articles/Thomas-Chandler%60s-Pottery-Production/.
Also see two articles that I posted to this website about the Hear Me Now exhibit when it was displayed in Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston --
MET Article: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2022/12/now-on-display-at-met-in-new-york-city.html
MFA, Boston Article: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2023/03/now-on-display-at-mfa-boston-hear-me.html
Note: For the rest of the pottery in yesterday's sale - see the auction catalog: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/catalog/362226_single-owner-carole-wahler-auction/?keyword=&page=1
Some 19th C. Edgefield, South Carolina Stoneware that Sold Yesterday
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come..
One of the most important examples of nineteenth century red earthenware from Western New York will be illustrated in my forthcoming two-volume, ninth book, titled, America's Great Awakening and Migration: The Red Earthenware of Western New York; the slip decorated jar is adorned with applied molded images of a Native American and Lady Columbina / Lady Liberty. The details of the jar will be left for the publication of the book, although there has been some speculation through the years if the Drake family had any involvement with the production of this jar, which was almost certainly made at the Nathaniel Rochester (1752-1831) Pottery in West Bloomfield, New York, circa 1818-1831, although the potter or potters at the Rochester Pottery have not been identified: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2024/05/new-published-feature-story-in-antiques.html.
Nonetheless, there is very little information known about the Drake family's red earthenware production, but the family is listed as potters in Bethany, New York in the 1850 United States Federal Census, perhaps establishing the family enterprise in the 1840s.
The information that I have been able to gather is that John Drake (1799-1861) migrated from Trenton, New Jersey to New York at some point in the nineteenth century and worked as a farmer/potter in Western New York. He first appeared in census records on July 12, 1850 in Bethany, where he was fifty-two years of age. He is cited as being a potter by trade with real estate holdings valued at $700.
The census record also indicates that listed in the household are his wife, Fanny Drake (1799-1872), age fifty-one, as well as their children, Sarah Drake (1823-1884), age twenty-seven, George L. Drake (1825-1907), age twenty-five, who is listed as a potter, Martin H. Drake (1832-1893), age nineteen, also listed a potter, as well as Miles Drake (1836-1865), age fourteen; they also had another daughter, Julia Drake (1832-1918). All of the Drake children were born in New York, so John Drake had to have been living in New York State, as early as 1823. But he may have been living there earlier, as well. Sarah and George were born in Steuben County, New York, which is located to the south of Rochester in the southern tier region of New York.
But there is no evidence to indicate where John Drake learned the potter's trade prior to arriving in Bethany around 1850, and there is no known red earthenware production in Steuben County, New York during the 1820s-1840s period.
Some other information that I have been able to gather about the family red earthenware business:
1850 Pottery Business: John Drake listed as a “Potter” with an “Earthen Ware” business worth $1,200 in the 1850 United States Federal Census; the wood for the kiln costs $30 annually, the glazing costs $40 annually, and the clay costs $25 annually. The census record also indicates that he pays $75 worth of labor each month for 3 male employees and he has $300 invested.
1850 Farming Business: John Drake is also listed in the 1850 Agriculture Census in Bethany, New York as owning two-acres of farmland worth $700 and farm equipment worth $152, as well as three horses, one cow and one swine worth $200.
1860 Drain Tile Business: John Drake and his son, Miles Drake are listed as “Tile Makers” (likely drain tile) in Bethany in the 1860 United States Federal Census, although Miles died on May 22, 1865 during the American Civil War and is buried today at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
Note: The success of this family business did not last long, seeing that George Drake is listed as a “Brick and Tile Maker” in Oakfield, Genesee County, New York in the 1860 Federal Census; he is then listed as a farmer in Oakfield in the 1870 and 1880 Federal Censuses.
Martin Drake married Elizabeth Martha Preater (1844-1906) in California on May 11, 1859, although by the early 1860s he was living in Oregon, where he lived the remainder of his life working as a farmer, according to census records.
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
Volume I: 673 pages, Chapters 1-17
Volume II: 671 pages, Chapters 18-37
Update on Forthcoming Two-Volume Western New York Book
Now available! My eighth book, 709-pages, titled, An Influential Family of Early Potters: The Clarks of New Hampshire and Related Businesses.
Here is a link to purchase the book: https://historicbeverly.net/product/an-influential-family-of-early-potters-the-clarks-of-new-hampshire-and-related-businesses/.
New Hampshire Book Now Available!
There will be tons of archaeology included as part of my forthcoming two-volume 1,300 page, ninth book, titled, America's Great Awakening and Migration: The Red Earthenware of Western New York, although one archaeology site that I find fascinating is some pottery collected at the site of the eighteenth century trading post, known as Fort Niagara, along the Ontario River near Youngstown, New York.
Fort Niagara, also known as Old Fort Niagara, was a fortification originally built by New France to protect its interests in North America, specifically for the control of access between the Niagara River and Lake Ontario, the easternmost of the Great Lakes. The fort is on the river's eastern bank at its mouth on Lake Ontario.
The British took over the fort in 1759 during the French and Indian War. Although, the United States ceded the fort after it gained independence in the American Revolutionary War, where the British stayed until 1796. The transfer of ownership to the United States came after signing of the Jay Treaty in 1794 that reaffirmed and implemented the legal border with British Canada. The treaty went into effect on February 29, 1796.
The treaty was negotiated by John Jay (1745-1829), who was also a negotiator of the earlier Paris Treaty, and gained several of the primary American goals. This included a British withdrawal from forts in the Northwest Territory that Britain had refused to relinquish under the terms of the Treaty of Paris.
The Post-1800 Period at Fort Niagara
With the outbreak of the War of 1812 Fort Niagara found itself on the front lines of the conflict. In October and November 1812 Fort Niagara traded artillery fire with Fort George in furious but indecisive bombardments. Fire was again exchanged in May 1813, when U.S. troops successfully captured Fort George. By the end of the year however, American troops abandoned the Canadian shore and burned the town of Newark. The British reoccupied the ruins of Fort George and on the night of December 18-19, 1813 secretly crossed the river and captured Fort Niagara. The Fort remained in British hands until the end of the war.
In the 1820s the completion of the Erie and Welland Canals rendered the Niagara portage obsolete and Fort Niagara’s strategic value quickly declined. The garrison was withdrawn and only a caretaker watched over the Fort’s venerable buildings and walls. The Fort was regarrisoned from 1828 to 1832 but then once again deactivated until a new border crisis in 1837 prompted Congress to authorize improvements to the Fort. By the time these improvements were completed in 1843, the crisis had passed and Fort Niagara was once again only sporadically garrisoned.
During the American Civil War, the Fort once again saw improvements as the Union worried about a British alliance with the Confederacy. Construction of new concrete and brick revetments began in 1863 but was not completed until after the war ended. The Fort’s artillery casemates were never armed and the new defenses were obsolete by the time of their completion. As an anticlimax, border tensions once again escalated in 1866 as rebels known as Fenians sought Irish liberation through the conquest of Canada.
The post-Civil War years witnessed a significant change in Fort Niagara. A garrison that arrived in 1865 found the Fort’s living quarters antiquated and virtually uninhabitable. Construction soon began on modern buildings situated outside the old fortifications. This was the beginning of “New” Fort Niagara, the area occupied by modern Fort Niagara State Park.
Continuous changes to New Fort Niagara allowed the post to survive well into the twentieth century. A 1,000 yard rifle range was constructed in 1885 and the Fort became increasingly useful for training purposes. Troops were prepared for the Spanish-American War of 1898 and the Philippine Insurrection of 1899-1901. The post also served as an officers training camp during World War One.
Some Archaeology Collected at the Site of Fort Niagara
Nevertheless, archaeology collected at the site of Fort Niagara over the last decade by Buffalo State's archaeology program has recovered some objects of interest; in fact, some sherds are adorned with a mocha style decoration that certainly resemble production in England, although the decorative technique and the glaze colors also resemble a nineteenth century red earthenware pitcher that is owned by the LeRoy, New York Historical Society. There are a small group of these pitchers known today, which are believed to have been made in the Western New York region, but the potter has not been identified.
Some other artifacts collected at the site may have originated in Ontario, Canada in the 1800s, but there was also a lot of red earthenware production in Erie County, New York in the nineteenth century, including a number of migrant German potters, who worked in the Buffalo area: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2025/01/a-group-of-potteries-operated-by.html.
Furthermore, the German migrant potter, Carl Mehwaldt (1808-1887) was also operating a red earthenware business just to the south of the Fort, along the Niagara River in the village of Bergholz, New York during the 1850s-1880s period.
For more information about Mehwaldt - see a feature story I wrote for the October 15, 2021 issue of Antiques & Auction News, titled, Carl Mehwaldt: A Pioneer German-American Potter And 19th-Century Immigrant - Redware From Western New York State: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2021/10/print-version-of-new-published-research.html.
Also see another feature story I wrote for the December 16, 2022 issue of Antiques And The Arts Weekly, titled, Unique Red Earthenware Rediscovered In Western New York: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2022/12/new-published-story-unique-red.html.
Note: Looking ahead - the LeRoy, New York Historical Society is planning to hold a Western New York redware exhibit in 2025, which will coincide with the publication of my two-volume Western New York book. There may be other events, too, so stay tuned for more details!
Red Earthenware Artifacts Recovered at the Site of Fort Niagara in WNY
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
I recently posted a story to this website, titled, The Opening of the Ohio and Erie Canal in 1832 and Some 19th Century Stoneware Production in Ohio, where I cited some influence in northern Ohio from potters in New York State: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2025/02/the-opening-ohio-and-erie-canal-in-1832.html.
Interestingly, a very good example of nineteenth century Ohio stoneware sold today at Caza Sikes in Cincinnati, Ohio; the five-gallon crock was unmarked, although the folky nature of the cobalt decoration that surrounded the object is reminiscent to some stoneware produced in New York, among other American manufacturers. The crock was previously consigned to Crocker Farm in Maryland, as part of the firm's fall 2016 sale, although it did not meet the reserve: https://www.crockerfarm.com/stoneware-auction/2016-10-22/lot-197/Exceptional-Stoneware-Crock-with-Dog-Chasing-Man-Decoration-Ohio-circa-1860/.
Crocker Farm described the decoration as "..a running man with top hat, long hair, and raised arms, chased by a dog. Reverse decorated twice with a freehand number "5" flanked by three clusters of grapes. Underside with brushed inscription, "the 14"."
Nonetheless, the crock sold today for $9,500 plus the buyer's premium: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/197555535_outstanding-stoneware-crock-with-man-and-dog
Note: For the rest of the pottery in this sale, including some good stoneware from Maysville, Kentucky - see the auction catalog: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/catalog/360491_stoneware-ceramics-fine-decorative-art/.
19th Century Stoneware Crock from Ohio
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
This is one of my favorite discoveries in recent years, and it is also one of the most unusual painted nineteenth century classic style red earthenware vases that I have seen so far from the Charles A. Lawrence (1829-1904) Pottery in Beverly, Massachusetts. I actually had no idea that this type of decoration existed from this business, whereas this is perhaps a one-of-a-kind type surviving object that sold last weekend in a group lot, as part of the inventory of Gary Taylor's antiques business called Bloomin Antiques in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, which sold in an online sale at Flying Pig Auctions in Westmoreland, New Hampshire.
At first glance, part of the decoration appeared to me like it could have been decoupage, although after picking the lot up yesterday and taking a closer look at it, I found that it is actually all original factory paint most likely from the 1870s. This may have also been an object painted by Marblehead, Massachusetts artist, Thomas Pitman (1848-1923), who was employed at the C.A. Lawrence Pottery as a decorator.
But what excites me about this object is the subject of the painted decoration; four sides of this vase are decorated with cherubs, where each scene illustrates the four seasons: spring, summer, fall, and winter. Cherubs are often depicted in religious art and are also referenced throughout the Bible.
The ancient Greeks and Romans also personified the seasons: The Greeks represented them as women, while the Romans, who called the seasons anni tempora of the neutral gender, often expressed them as young boys who had wings, also known as cherubs, or by very young children without wings, with the symbols particular to each season. Spring is crowned with flowers, holding in his hands a kid, which is born in this season, or else he is milking a sheep; sometimes he is accompanied by a shrub, which is growing leaves and branches. Summer is crowned with ears of wheat, holding in one hand a bundle of ear grains, and in the other a sickle. Autumn has in his hands a vase full of fruits and a cluster of grapes, or else a basket of fruits on his head. Winter, well clothed, well shod, having his head veiled or crowned with leafless branches, holds some dried and wrinkled fruits in one hand, and some aquatic birds in the other. The wings that are sometimes given to the four seasons, correspond not only to time, but also to all of its parts.
Furthermore, in Western art, cherubs became associated with the putto and the Greco-Roman god Cupid/Eros, with depictions as small, plump, winged boys. Artistic representations of cherubs in early Christian and Byzantine art sometimes diverged from scriptural descriptions.
This notion and iconography of the seasons also became quite popular in the eighteenth century, such as a series of four poems, titled, The Seasons, that written by the Scottish author James Thomson (1700-1748). The first part, Winter, was published in 1726, and the completed poem cycle appeared in 1730. The poem was published one season at a time, Winter in 1726, Summer in 1727, Spring in 1728 and Autumn only in the complete edition of 1730. The poem was extremely influential, and stimulated other poems in England.
These poems were then translated by publishers in other countries in the eighteenth century, including in Germany by Barthold Heinrich Brockes (1680-1747), which also became a popular subject with cherubs and the seasons manufactured with some porcelain made in Dresden, Germany.
It was published in 1911 in The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, "The Seasons was one of the earliest of the great English works to be translated into German and from its first introduction proved such a favorite that many later attempts were made to render the poem in various forms. These attempts extend over a period of more than seventy-five years. Brockes' translation came twenty years before Christoph Martin Wieland's (1733-1813) translations of some of William Shakespeare's (1564-1616) writing appeared in Germany."
Artists such as Thomas Medland (1765-1833) in England, Anker Smith (1755-1819) in England, and John Neagle (1796-1865) in the United States, also created engravings in the eighteenth and nineteenth century to accompany the poems, and it was also translated into French by Joseph-Philippe-François Deleuze (1753–1835) in 1801.
Interestingly, the poems were highly influential and much liked for at least a century after its writing, especially editions that were produced between 1830 and 1870 in England and America, with the latter date being about the time that this vase was made in Beverly. The cherubs on this vase also match styles produced at the Wedgewood Factory in England, such as a plaque and some figures published in a booklet in 1882, titled, Catalogue of a Collection of Old Wedgwood Ware Formed by William Bartlett (1809-1854).
"The Seasons" is also mentioned by Massachusetts poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) in poem 131, titled, Besides the Autumn poets sing, whom Charles Lawrence may have had some association with: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2016/09/another-important-example-of-charles.html.
Additionally, it was published in 1986 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan, in a book, titled, In Pursuit of Beauty: Americans and the Aesthetic Movement: "Facsimiles of Greek terra-cotta vessels were some of the earliest artistic ceramics produced in America. The first known reference to an artware line appeared in 1872, when the Beverly Pottery at the request of Boston ladies began to copy beautiful forms of ancient vases to order. Charles A. Lawrence, the superintendent of that Massachusetts factory, intentionally limited his production of imitation Greek pottery, for he feared that if it became common it would depreciate in value. He therefore sold it only in small lots to his artistic friends for their own private collections."
For more reading about the C.A. Lawrence Pottery - see the first installment in my pottery book series, titled, The Beverly Pottery: The Wares of Charles A. Lawrence: https://historicbeverly.net/product/the-beverly-pottery-the-wares-of-charles-a-lawrence/
Also see a feature story I wrote that was published in the January 10, 2025 issue of Antiques And The Arts Weekly, titled, Japanese Design Influence On Painted Red Earthenware In Late Nineteenth Century Beverly, Mass.: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2025/01/new-published-feature-story-in-antiques_5.html
Note: There is also an important example of nineteenth century classical decorated stoneware from New York State that is currently for sale with Antiques Associates At West Townsend in Massachusetts; in fact, I recently posted a story about that object to this website, titled, A Significant Example of Stoneware Production from Sherburne, New York: One of Two Flasks Known from Delos Rogers: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2025/02/a-significant-example-of-stoneware.html.
"The Seasons" 19th C. Red Earthenware Vase from Beverly, Mass.
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...