18th Century Red Earthenware Remains Recovered from Harvard Yard at Harvard University

According to the Harvard Gazette, "Studying the archaeology of Harvard Yard in Cambridge, Massachusetts is a collaborative project of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University. Four buildings made up the seventeenth-century Harvard campus. Two of these, the Old College and the Indian College, were near the present archaeological excavation. 

The features and artifacts excavated confirm the presence of a refuse zone (trash area), likely from the Old College building of 1638, the first college building in America, and long gone from the Yard. Among the finds are seventeenth-century red earthenware roof tiles, diamond pane window glass, many handmade bricks and clay tobacco pipes."

Although, the ongoing archaeology project has also revealed kiln bricks and kiln furniture from what appears to be a local eighteenth-century Cambridge red earthenware potter. A variety of red earthenware sherds have also been recovered, which range from basic black and brown glazes to objects creatively decorated with slip-decoration.

I also want to note that similar seventeenth-century red earthenware roof tiles have been recovered in Charlestown and Salem, Massachusetts - and, the manufacture of those tiles is debatable whether the production was originally related. Red earthenware roof tiles have also been recovered from a seventeenth-century privy at the Three Cranes Tavern in Charlestown.

The tiles at Harvard Yard have been found in a similar archaeological context, as were the tiles in Charlestown and Salem, which continues to debate my theory that this type of production is somehow related since this was a limited style of local red earthenware production in the 1600s. It is not unthinkable to believe that these type of roof tiles could have been shipped for construction to nearby locations.

Here is also a link to an article that I wrote in May 2013 that shows a late seventeenth or early eighteenth-century red earthenware roof tile, which was uncovered during an archaeology dig at the Clough House in Boston.

This link will bring you to the Peabody Museum's website at Harvard University - you can conduct a quick search on this website for the artifacts recovered at Harvard Yard.

Note:  Here is also a link to the Harvard Gazette article (referenced above) that shows a number of pictures from the archaeology dig at Harvard Yard in 2016.

18th Century Slip-Decorated Sherds

(Left) 18th Century Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Sherd

Recovered at Harvard Yard in Cambridge, Mass.

Photo Courtesy: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology - Harvard University

18th Century Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Sherds

Recovered at Harvard Yard in Cambridge, Mass.

Photo Courtesy: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology - Harvard University

18th Century Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Sherd

Recovered at Harvard Yard in Cambridge, Mass.

Photo Courtesy: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology - Harvard University

18th Century Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Handle Sherd

Recovered at Harvard Yard in Cambridge, Mass.

Photo Courtesy: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology - Harvard University

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

A Pioneering Potter: Samuel Marshall of Portsmouth, New Hampshire

My latest article has been published in the April 2017 edition of the New England Antiques Journal - the article illustrates the life's work of Samuel Marshall (no record of birth, d. 1749), who was an eighteenth-century red earthenware potter in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, circa 1729-1749.

Marshall's story is an important legacy to tell today since he was a landmark coastal New Hampshire potter, who challenged the local market for imported ceramics in the Portsmouth area with his domestic red earthenware production. But he also had strong ties to the Charlestown, Massachusetts potter's industry, where he is documented as having purchased wholesale orders of red earthenware from the Parker Pottery before he died in 1749.

Presumably, some of the pottery that Marshall purchased was sold locally; although, I challenged this idea in the New England Antiques Journal article since Charlestown red earthenware has been found at various colonial military forts and taverns in Maine and Canada. I suspect that Marshall may have been responsible for the distribution for some of these recovered artifacts. However, here is also a link to a previous website article, which proves that a merchant based in Maine purchased a single wholesale order of pottery on April 15, 1747 from the Parker Pottery for distribution in Maine's Casco Bay region. But this is the only documentation that is known today that ties the Parker Pottery to a merchant in Maine - and, it certainly does not explain why Charlestown Pottery has been recovered in numerous circa 1740-1770 archaeological contexts in southern Maine, coastal Maine, possibly New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Nevertheless, these are some of the additional pictures that I took when I was researching and writing the article - I believe that all of these objects are somehow related to Marshall. I find the most interesting object to be a small slip-decorated dish, which was recovered within a circa 1725-1750 archaeological context on Deer Street in Portsmouth. The form of this dish closely matches a waster that was recovered less than one mile away by archaeologists at the site of the Marshall Pottery in the 1970s.

Note: Here is a direct link to my full article, which can be found on pages 42-44 in this month's edition of the New England Antiques Journal.

Artifacts Collected at the Marshall Pottery in Portsmouth, NH

(Top Left) 18^th Century Red Earthenware Mug Likely Made in Charlestown, Mass.

Found in a Shed in the 1970s Filled with Dried Paint Brushes
The Shed was a Few Hundred Yards from the Location of Samuel Marshall's Pottery

Circa 1730-1760
See NEAJ Article for More Information

Courtesy: Hollis Brodrick 

(Artifacts) Kiln Furniture and Wasters Recovered at the Site of  the Samuel Marshall Pottery

Artifacts, Circa 1736-1749

Courtesy: Strawbery Banke Archaeology Department - Portsmouth, NH

(Top Right) Stack of Red Earthenware Cup/Mug Wasters

Circa 1736-1749

(Bottom Left) Red Earthenware Dish Waster

Dish is a Near Perfect Match to a Slip-Decorated Dish Found on Deer Street in Portsmouth, NH

Circa 1736-1749

See Today's Article and Picture Below for More Information

(Bottom Right) Kiln Furniture from the Marshall Pottery

Circa 1736-1749

Courtesy: Strawbery Banke Archaeology Department - Portsmouth, NH

Slip-Decorated Dish Recovered on Deer Street in Portsmouth, NH

Small 18th Century Slip Decorated Dish Recovered on Deer Street in Porsmouth, NH

Uncovered in a Circa 1725-1750 Archaeological Context

Closely Matches a Dish Waster Recovered at the Site of the Samuel Marshall Pottery

Courtesy: Strawbery Banke Archaeology Department - Portsmouth, NH

Samuel Marshall Cited in John Parker's Charlestown, Mass Potter's Daybook

Page Taken from John Parker’s 18^th Century Potter’s Daybook from Charlestown, Mass.

Shows Samuel Marshall Purchased “Earthenware” from Parker in 1748

Courtesy: Baker Library, Harvard University

Charlestown, Mass. Chamber Pot Sherd Recovered in Berwick, Maine

Charlestown, Mass. Slip-Decorated Chamber Pot Sherd Recovered at a Tavern in Berwick, Maine

Uncovered in a Mid-18^th Century Archaeological Context

Likely Imported Into Portsmouth, NH in the 1740s

Courtesy: Neil De Paoli

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

An Incredible 19th Century Stoneware Jug that Recently Sold in Plainville, Connecticut

Many people have already seen this incredible four gallon nineteenth-century stoneware jug that sold on March 27, 2017 at Winter Associates, Inc. in Plainville, Connecticut. Presumably, this is a merchant jug that was marked 'SOLD BY / T.B. MERRICK / HALLOWELL (MAINE).' My limited research has shown that T.B. Merrick dealt in drugs and medicine.

According to WalterGrutchfield.net, "Thomas Belsham Merrick (1813-1902) was born in Hallowell, Maine on April 27, 1813 and died June 13, 1902 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."

The incised decoration is incredible! The jug is profusely decorated with a wonderfully executed bird, which has been surrounded by plants, flowers and leaves. This is easily a museum quality object that would fit nicely into any major museum's collection. It is also an object that would easily compliment the red earthenware and stoneware already owned by the Maine State Museum in Augusta, Maine. Coincidentally, Hallowell is located only a few miles south of Augusta.

This jug was given an incredibly low pre-auction estimate of $125-$275; although, it eventually sold at the auctioneer's podium for $7,000. But I feel this jug was still a bargain at that price. This is an important piece of stoneware that I feel is a significant piece of Maine's nineteenth-century history.

4 Gallon 19th Century Stoneware Jug with Incredible Incised Decoration

Marked 'SOLD BY / T.B. MERRICK / HALLOWELL (MAINE)'

 Stands 18 1/2" Tall

Sold: $7,000 Before Premiums

Photo Courtesy: Winter Associates, Inc. - Plainville, CT

View of Some of the Incised Decoration

 Photo Courtesy: Winter Associates, Inc. - Plainville, CT

View of the Mark 'SOLD BY / T.B. MERRICK / HALLOWELL (MAINE)'

Photo Courtesy: Winter Associates, Inc. - Plainville, CT

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

A Rare 18th Century Red Earthenware Pot with a History of Ownership in Lynn, Massachusetts

I saw a lot of great redware and stoneware over the weekend at the annual Connecticut Spring Antiques Show in Hartford, Connecticut, as well as at Nadeau's Auction Gallery in Windsor, Connecticut. But the piece that I eventually held out for sold yesterday at a small auction in Lynn, Massachusetts. I had never heard of this auction until last week when I came across an intriguing black-glazed red earthenware pot that was advertised generically. I suspected that it was manufactured locally in the eighteenth-century, but I was not sure of it until I held it in-hand yesterday.

The auctioneer told me that this eighteenth-century pot was consigned from an old estate in Lynn. The easy answer would be to attribute this refined object to the eighteenth-century potter's industry in Essex County, Massachusetts. However, the manufacture of this pot's handle is pretty much an exact match to a pair of handles found on a slip-decorated pot that sold a few years ago in Maine - that pot was properly attributed to the Charlestown, Massachusetts potter's industry, circa 1730-1760.

I have not seen this exact type of handle before outside of what was produced in Charlestown, where the center has been largely indented by what I assume was the potter's finger or some type of tool. Although, I have seen much more subtle examples produced in Essex County, but nothing that is exactly like this handle.

If you look closely at the side-by-side picture below, you should be able to tell that this handle really does resemble the handles that are seen on the Charlestown pot that sold in Maine, which was reportedly found in a house in Winchester, Massachusetts in 1976 (the Charlestown pot also reportedly has ties to famed collector, Nina Fletcher Little).

I should also note that the color of the black glaze that is seen on the pot that we bought yesterday in Lynn appears in-hand as it is seen in the picture below with my niece, Alexis - whereas, the remaining two photographs of the pot were taken under bright professional studio lighting.

Note: Here is a link to an article that I wrote for the February 2016 edition of the New England Antiques Journal, which further discusses the Charlestown, Massachusetts pot that sold a few years ago in Maine.

18th Century Pot Purchased in Lynn, Mass.

My Niece, Alexis with the Black-Glazed Red Earthenware Pot

This Photo was Taken Immediately After we Had Successfully Won the Lot

Note: This is How the Glaze Actually Appears In-Hand

\

18th Century Black-Glazed Red Earthenware Pot

Likely Made in Either Charlestown, Mass. or Essex County, Mass.

Likely Made Before the American Revolution

Retains a History of Ownership in Lynn, Mass.

Stands 8 5/8" Tall

Note: This is How the Black Glaze Appears Under Bright Professional Studio Lighting

View of the Handle

The Manufacture of this Handle Appears Nearly Identical to the Handles on the Pot Below

Note: This is How the Black Glaze Appears Under Bright Professional Studio Lighting

View of the Interior

Similar Interior Glazes Are Found on Pottery Produced in Coastal Mass. in the 18th Century

Important Charlestown, Mass. Red Earthenware Pot

 18th Century Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Pot Made in Charlestown, Mass.

Retains a History of Ownership in Winchester, Mass.

Reportedly Found in a Home in Winchester, Mass. in 1976
Sold a Few Years Ago in Maine

Circa 1730-1760

Photo Courtesy: Private Collection

View of One of the Two Handles

The Manufacture of the Handles Are Nearly Identical to the Handle on the Pot Above

 Photo Courtesy: Private Collection

View of the Lid

Photo Courtesy: Private Collection

Comparison of the Handles

A Comparison of the Handles on Each Pot

The Manufacture Closely Resembles Each Handle

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

An Important Collection of 19th Century American Stoneware that will Sell Tomorrow in Windsor, Connecticut

This weekend will be a busy weekend for the antiques industry with Crocker Farm holding its annual spring redware and stonware auction in Sparks, Maryland, Nadeau's Auction Gallery in Windsor, Connecticut will sell the late Dr. Steven Leder's important collection of American stoneware and the annual Connecticut Spring Antiques Show will take place at the Armory in Hartford, Connecticut.

The highlight of Dr. Leder's collection is an extremely rare (and important) nineteenth-century five gallon stoneware butter churn that was made in Fulton, New York, which is just north of Syracuse, New York. The decoration is what really makes this churn special - it has been hand decorated in cobalt depicting an older man smoking a pipe. The capacity mark was also hand decorated with cobalt.

Remarkably, this decoration transforms this piece of utilitarian stoneware into a fabulous example of American folk art - this is easily a museum quality example of pottery that would fit nicely into the collection of any of New York's major museums.

Nadeau's Auction Gallery has given the churn a pre-auction estimate of $80,000-$120,000.

Overall, the collection also consists of a variety of rare stoneware objects mostly from the northeast, where many have been decorated with unusual cobalt decorations.

The sale will also include Dr. Leder's lifelong collection of stoneware ephemera - the majority of the collection is kept in a binder, but there are also some framed pieces, as well. Personally, I feel it is nice that this entire collection will remain together since it took a lifetime for Dr. Leder to assemble it.

The sale will begin tomorrow (March 25th) at 11:00 am - for more information, I would suggest contacting the auctioneer. Here is also a link to the full auction catalog.

Lot #0343

Extremely Rare 19th Century 5 Gallon Stoneware Butter Churn

Made in Fulton, NY

Hand Decorated in Cobalt with a Man Smoking a Pipe

Stands 17 1/8" Tall

Pre-Auction Estimate: $80,000-$120,000

Photo Courtesy: Nadeau's Auction Gallery - Windsor, CT

Another View of the Butter Churn

 Photo Courtesy: Nadeau's Auction Gallery - Windsor, CT

View of the Lid

Photo Courtesy: Nadeau's Auction Gallery - Windsor, CT

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

The Red Earthenware Consumed in Ipswich, Massachusetts in the 18th and 19th Centuries

I'm honestly surprised today that more red earthenware is not associated with Ipswich, Massachusetts in comparison to the prolific furniture industry that once existed locally in the seventeenth and eighteenth-centuries; however, there was also important variations of silver (ex. Daniel Rogers, circa 1765-1780), iron and other household utilitarian production, as well.

According to the Ipswich Museum, "The museum preserves an extensive collection of art, furniture, books and documents with a historical (and architectural) significance to Ipswich, as well as later centuries of Ipswich history."

But I have always wondered where Ipswich's source of domestic utilitarian pottery originated from in the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries. The town never sustained an industry - and the only record that I have been able to find for any red earthenware production in Ipswich before 1900 was accomplished by Jacob Davis, circa 1662-1717/18. Although, it is also pretty-much guaranteed today that no pottery can (currently) be accurately tied to Davis' production. So where did all of the domestic red earthenware come from?

The United State Bureau of the Census indicates that there were 3,305 citizens in Ipswich in 1800 - that is almost three times smaller than Salem, Massachusetts in 1800, where there were 9,457 documented citizens.

Newburyport's population was 4,837 in 1790 - and, Newburyport was also the location of a potter's industry. A comparison between Ipswich and Newburyport would lead me to believe that Ipswich must have sustained its own red earthenware production, but that does not appear to be the case today.

Archaeological evidence has proven that red earthenware was shipped to Salem from Charlestown, Massachusetts, Peabody (formerly South Danvers), Massachusetts and Newburyport, Massachusetts in the eighteenth-century. Whereas, the potters in Peabody were the predominant suppliers of pottery for Salem in the 1800's; although, there are cases that can be made, where small amounts of pottery also appear to have been shipped from Philadelphia and Boston in the early nineteenth-century, as well.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to gather any amateur or professional archaeological evidence for Ipswich; although, in theory, I suspect that the type of red earthenware that was found in eighteenth and nineteenth-century Ipswich homes was similar to what was found in Salem during the period. Again, it is only theory, but I imagine that the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company (circa 1764-1799) must have exported from Newburyport to Ipswich in the 1700's, while Peabody was also likely an industry that capitalized on the financial opportunity, which Ipswich presented in the 1700's and 1800's.

It is also certainly possible that Ipswich can be viewed as a similar study today when compared to the type of pottery that was available in Rhode Island in the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries. There was very little red earthenware production in Rhode Island after the American Revolution, which forced the state to rely heavily on pottery that was produced nearby in southeastern Massachusetts. Overall, I suspect it is a similar situation in Ipswich, where the dozens of potter's businesses in Peabody were likely the major supplier with possibly smaller amounts of pottery exported from other locations.

Peabody, Mass. Red Earthenware

(Left) Late 18th or Early 19th Century Red Earthenware Pitcher

Attributed to Peabody, Mass.

Circa 1770-1820

Stands Approximately 9" Tall

(Right) Late 18th or Early 19th Century Red Earthenware Pitcher

Attributed to Peabody, Mass.

Circa 1790-1840

Stands Approximately 9" Tall

Photo Courtesy: Historic New England - Haverhill, Mass.

Late 18th or Early 19th Century Red Earthenware Pitcher

Attributed to Peabody, Mass.

Circa 1780-1840

Stands Approximately 9" Tall

Photo Courtesy: Old Sturbridge Village - Sturbridge, Mass.

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

A Rare 19th Century Maine-Made Pot Decorated with the Bust of a Man

I have previously written about this small manganese decorated lidded red earthenware pot, which was likely used as an herb pot in the 1800's. I also believe that it is likely a unique object for New England red earthenware, where it has been decorated with what I perceive to be a bust of a man (possibly a black man). I have seen similar decorations on red earthenware produced in the Mid-Atlantic region (ex. Pennsylvania) in the nineteenth-century, but I have never seen this style of decoration on New England red earthenware before. The pot has also been decorated with a band of incised lines that have been highlighted with manganese just above the man's bust.

The reason that I am showing this small pot, again today is a result of its manufacture, which I just realized yesterday is very-similar to a nineteenth-century red earthenware pot that I own - I acquired this red eartehwanre pot last year from Limington, Maine antiques dealer, Bill Kelly, who discovered the pot in an early context of ownership in a house in Otisfield, Maine. The manufacture for both of these objects closely resemble each other, especially the bases, which are nearly an identical match.

I have not been able to accurately develop an exact location for the pot that was discovered by Bill Kelly, but I have always felt that it was produced in southern Maine or in the North Yarmouth, Maine potter's industry. I feel a similar attribution can likely be developed for the small pot, as well.

Red Earthenware Pot from a House in Otisfield, Maine

(Right) 19th Century Red Earthenware Pot that is Attributed to Maine

Probably Made in Southern Maine or North Yarmouth, Maine

Found in a House in Otisfield, Maine in 2016

Manufacture is Very-Similar to the Small Pot

Circa 1820-1860

Stands 8 3/4" Tall with the Lid

Red Earthenware Pot Decorated with the Bust of a Man

 19th Century Red Earthenware Pot Likely Produced in Maine

Possibly Made in Southern Maine or Coastal Maine

Manufacture is Very-Similar to the Larger Pot Discussed Above

Circa 1800-1860

Stands 4 3/8" Tall with the Lid

 Another View of the Small Pot

 Another View of the Small Pot

View of the Handle

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