This slip decorated red earthenware sherd was recovered from a circa 1720-1860 archaeological context at the South Ferry Terminal site at Battery Park in Manhattan, although it is likely eighteenth century in origin: https://archaeology.cityofnewyork.us/collection/search/south-ferry-terminal-110287-redware-body-sherd/keyword/redware/page/18.
The slip decorated motif appears to have been applied in a spiral, which is a type seen with potters working in Charlestown, Massachusetts, Bristol County, Massachusetts and Essex County, Massachusetts. However, the use of the yellow on top of the olive brown glaze (perhaps imitating styles produced by British potters in the seventeenth and eighteenth century) is also a type found with some potters working in Charlestown, as well as the Danvers and Salem, Massachusetts area before the American Revolution; the archaeology report suggests this sherd was possibly made in New England.
The spiral technique is also seen with some eighteenth and early nineteenth century stoneware potters working in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, etc. All of this information will be covered in my forthcoming 900+ page, tenth book, titled, An Early Industry of Household Wares: The Red Earthenware of Salem Village, South Danvers, Peabody and Salem, Massachusetts.
This is an excerpt from the forthcoming book, "...A few years ago, my nephew Jason and I, were mudlarking along the Bass River in Danversport, Massachusetts, which is where a lot of household trash was deposited in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, when we came across the remains of a slip decorated red earthenware sherd from a pan. This was a noteworthy discovery, seeing that it was previously published that not a lot of slip decorated red earthenware was produced after the American Revolution in the Danvers area. Although, I have always questioned this idea, seeing that not a lot is known about this type of production with there being a lack of archaeology due to twentieth century development at the location of a number of the area's eighteenth century potter’s sites. The circular or spiraled slip design on the pan sherd is similar to the design found on a sherd recovered at the site of the James Kettle Pottery, circa late seventeenth and early eighteenth century. However, this style of decoration may have also been produced at a business owned by his son, Jonathan Kettle in Peabody after 1731, along with other potters who worked in the area and were influenced by the Kettles, etc. This type of spiraled design is also a type associated with producton in Charlestown, Massachusetts before the American Revolution and Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is also associated with stoneware production in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, etc. in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century."
Note: This type of spiraled design on red earthenware was not exclusive to American production so it should not be used as a single characteristic in identifying an object's origin.
A Preview of Forthcoming Tenth Book
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