While working on my forthcoming two-volume, tenth book yesterday, titled, An Early Industry of Household Wares: The Red Earthenware of Salem Village, South Danvers, Peabody and Salem, Massachusetts, I was very surprised to learn about this likely eighteenth century two-color slip decorated red earthenware jar with its original lid; somehow I overlooked this object during all of my trips to the storage area of the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.: https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_579970.
This object was discovered decades ago in coastal Massachusetts by Massachusetts author Lura Woodside Watkins, although for whatever reason it was not published in Early New England Potters and Their Wares. Perhaps she did not know what to make of it at the time, seeing that there was no archaeological evidence from places like the pre-1775 industry in Charlestown, Massachusetts, etc.
Nonetheless, take note of how the potter decorated the top of the finial on the lid with slip; this is the same technique used on the colonial eighteenth century double-handled red earthenware pot from Charlestown, which is illustrated on the cover of my third book, titled, The Dawn of Independence, the Death of An Industry: The Pottery of Charlestown, Massachusetts: https://historicbeverly.net/product/the-dawn-of-independence-the-death-of-an-industry/.
The base of the jar is also adorned with a large rounded foot, which is a characteristic of early wares made in coastal Massachusetts, especially in the Danvers and Salem area before 1800, as well as Charlestown before 1775.
A Likely 18th Century Two-Color Slip Decorated Red Earthenware Jar
18th Century Slip Decorated Red Earthenware Jar with Original Lid
Found Years Ago in Coastal Mass. by Lura Woodside Watkins
Stands 9 1/4" Tall
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution
Another View of the Jar and the Lid
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Photo Courtesy: National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution
A View of the Large Round Foot at the Base
This is a Characteristic of Some Wares Made in Mass., Ca. 1700s and Early 1800s
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Photo Courtesy: National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution
The Top of the Finial on the Lid is Decorated with Slip
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Photo Courtesy: National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution
A Closer View of the Two Colors of Slip
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Photo Courtesy: National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution
Colonial 18th Century Slip Decorated Red Earthenware Pot with Original Lid
Made in Charlestown, Massachusetts
See Article for More Information
A View of the Slip Decorated Finial on the Lid
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Photo Courtesy: Sam Herrup and City of Boston Archaeology Program
Another View of the Lid
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Photo Courtesy: Sam Herrup and City of Boston Archaeology Program
Note: This is another object that Lura Woodside Watkins donated to the Smithsonian, which I believe she also found in New England in the twentieth century; it is a great eighteenth or early nineteenth century slip decorated red earthenware plate from southeastern Pennsylvania, perhaps Philadelphia:
https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_579973.
18th or Early 19th Century Slip Decorated Red Earthenware Plate
Made in Southeastern PA, Perhaps Philadelphia
Measures 9 1/2" in Diameter
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
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