Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Incised Red Earthenware Jars Made in the Salem and South Danvers (Peabody), Massachusetts Area

This large eighteenth or early nineteenth century red earthenware jar with incised lines is going to be included in Chapter 18 of my forthcoming tenth book, titled, An Early Industry of Household Wares: The Red Earthenware of Salem Village, South Danvers and Peabody, Massachusetts: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2025/04/two-very-interesting-objects-recovered.html.

The title of the chapter is “Some Incised Decorated Wares Made in the Salem and South Danvers Area,” where three related pots, one owned privately, a second owned by the Peabody Essex Museum and a third owned by the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. are discussed, all of which retain nineteenth century histories of ownership in Salem. 

The notion of Salem having red earthenware producton in the eighteenth and nineteenth century is completely overlooked today, but there were multiple businesses unrelatred to the families that operated in neighboring South Danvers and Danvers. I also suspect that part of the reason Salem’s production has been overlooked is because of the prolific China and East India Trade that existed for part of the eighteenth and nineteenth century. It was a similar scenario with some of the prolific stoneware production centers in New York and Vermont in the 1800s, where the local red earthenware production has been somewhat overlooked in early-to-mid twentieth century publications.

This particular handled pot is unrelated to those three jars from Salem, although it retains a history of ownership in the South Danvers (Peabody), Massachusetts area, and has been owned by the Peabody Historical Sociey since around the organization was established in 1896. The pot is also pictured in Figure 14 of Lura Woodside Watkins’ (1897-1982) book, Early New England Potters and Their Wares. Watkins described it as having been made in the Salem area and “probably very early.” 

The jar was later converted into a butter churn, thus the wooden lid and dasher. Someone made the jar into a churn for the museum to display in the 1920s during the 150th anniversary of the Revolutionary War. The dasher's wooden lid is also dated in pencil.

Red Earthenware Jar Made in the Salem and South Danvers (Peabody), Mass. Area

18th or Early 19th Century Red Earthenware Jar with Incised Lines

Made in the Salem and South Danvers, Mass. Area

The Jar was Later Converted into a Butter Churn

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Photo Courtesy: Peabody, Mass. Historical Society

A View of the Incised Lines

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Photo Courtesy: Peabody, Mass. Historical Society

Another View of the Jar Shown on the Floor Next to the Desk

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Photo Courtesy: Peabody, Mass. Historical Society

The Jar is Pictured in Figure 14 in Early New England Potters and Their Wares

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