Remains of a Plate Recovered in New York City Compared to an Intact Example that Just Sold at Auction

A small collection of red earthenware sold yesterday in California on eBay, where the majority of the pottery was made in Pennsylvania in the nineteenth century. Although, this particular earthenware plate caught my attention because its appearance and manufacture is very similar to the the remains of a plate that I published last year in a feature story I wrote for the October 2018 issue of Maine Antique Digest, titled "The Red Earthenware Available in the 18th and 19th Centuries in New York City."

The plate was recovered from a nineteenth century privy in New York City by Maribelle Costes and Scott Jordan, and was likely manufactured at the Huntington Pottery on Long Island in the early-nineteenth century. Matching sherds have also been recovered at the site of the pottery, and a matching plate is owned by the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities (now Preservation Long Island).

However, there is a major different found in the manufacture of both of these objects - the plate that sold on eBay is made from earthenware with a white clay body, while the other objects are made from earthenware with a red clay body. But despite this difference, it is certainly intriguing to see how similar these plates appear from the form, to the glaze color, and the coggled edges.

Similar Slip-Decorated Plates

19th Century Slip-Decorated Earthenware Plate

Form and Decoration is Very Similar to Artifacts Recovered in New York City and Long Island

Measures 7 3/4" in Diameter

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Photo Courtesy: eBay Seller pco2000

Early-19th Century Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Plate

Recovered from a New York City Privy

Matching Sherds Have Been Found on Long Island Including the Site of the Huntington Pottery

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Photo Courtesy: Maribelle Costes and Scott Jordan

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Millstones from the Collection of Lester Breininger

Millstones are mentioned in a feature story I wrote about the circa 1791-1890 red earthenware industry in North Yarmouth, Maine, which will be published in a few weeks in the November 2019 issue of Maine Antique Digest. These particular stones were used by potters in this industry in the nineteenth century, and still exist in the collection of the Yarmouth, Maine Historical Society, as well as a private collection. The circular stones were used for grinding many things at homesteads and farms, including clay at early potter's businesses.

While visiting Robesonia antiques dealer Greg Kramer a few months ago, I saw this collection of millstones that were once owned by Robesonia potter, Lester Breininger (1935-2011). The history of these stones are unknown since they were purchased in Breininger's travels, although they may have been used by a potter at one time. The matching pair seen below are very similar to those found in North Yarmouth.

Millstones from the Collection of Lester Breininger

Lester Breininger's House in Robesonia, PA

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Millstone from the Collection of Lester Breininger

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Matching Pair of Millstones from the Collection of Lester Breininger

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Millstone from the Collection of Lester Breininger

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High Fired Stoneware Pot with a Red Clay Body Found at the Chelsea Flea Market in Manhattan

In the last year or two, I have referenced the Robert A. Ellison Jr. Collection of American art pottery and utilitarian red earthenware many times, which is kept at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan. It is my opinion that this is the most complete and comprehensive collection of American artware in existence today, dating from the nineteenth through the mid-twentieth century. This collection demonstrates types of production that are rarely found anywhere else, and it includes a wide variety of wares made in reproduction of ancient pottery. Mr. Ellison's interest in the Grecian wares is especially intriguing since so little has been published about this type of production, and it was a style of pottery created by more companies than what is recognized today.

The MET wrote in 2009, "Outstanding works from every major American pottery and many lesser-known but historically significant potteries are featured in the collection. The objects range in size from miniature vessels a few inches tall to plaques, lamps, and large-scale vases measuring more than two feet in height. The primary catalyst in the development of the American art pottery movement was the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition (although some company's wares predate 1876), which introduced the American public to ceramics of the highest quality from Europe and Asia. This influence continued until 1956, when the California potter Peter Voulkos (1924-2002) altered traditional wheel-thrown vessels into sculpture-like shapes, ushering in the era of contemporary ceramics."

There was also a fascination with Grecian and mythological images found in American tile production in the late-nineteenth century, especially at some of the factories in Chelsea, Massachusetts, Zanesville, Ohio, and Trenton, New Jersey.

While visiting New York City last month with my nephew, Jason to see a New York Mets baseball game, we decided to check out some of the city's weekend flea markets. We were surprised to find this bowl at the Annex Markets' Chelsea Flea Market on 28 West 25th Street in Manhattan. This bowl is high fired stoneware, even though it presents a red clay body appearance.

The dealer told use that it was found just outside of New York City, although he would not speculate any further. But what caught our attention is the fact the bowl is heavily decorated around the exterior surface with cherubs and mountain goats; in mythology a cherub is a winged angelic being who directly attends to God, and the mountain goat is a symbol of prosperity and vegetation.

I bought this object as a study piece; it is very well made. I have found that this type of exterior decoration with cherubs was used on pots made at the Wedgewood factory in England as early as the eighteenth century. And it is also found on pottery manufactured in continental Europe as early as the fifteenth and sixteenth century, but possibly earlier, as well.

I have not been able to determine the origin or general era of production for this pot, but I thought it was an interesting study piece that would go well with some of my American reproduction ancient style pottery from the late-nineteenth century.

Stoneware Pot with Red Clay Body Found in Manhattan

My Nephew Jason with the Pot that We Just Found at the Annex Markets' Chelsea Flea Market

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High Fired Stoneware Pot Decorated with Cherubs and Mountains Goats

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Another View of the Pot

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View of the Interior

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View of the Base

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Another View of the Pot

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Another View of the Pot

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Another View of the Pot

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Another View of the Pot

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Another View of the Pot

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View of Some of the Exterior Decoration

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View of More of the Exterior Decoration

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Another View of the Interior

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Another View of the Base

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Lura Woodside Watkins Exhibition at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.

Massachusetts author Lura Woodside Watkins (1897-1982) is likely most well known today for Early New England Potters and Their Wares, which was published by Harvard University in 1950. It is a wonderful body of work, especially her academic research and archaeology of red earthenware production in New England.

But Watkins also owned a great pottery collection, much of which was published in her book, and most of it was acquired just before her death by the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. The remainder of the collection was donated a few years back by her son, Malcolm Watkins (1911-2001) to Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Massachusetts.

Interestingly, most people may not remember or like myself are not old enough to have seen the Watkins exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institute. The museum exhibited many of the published red earthenware objects in the 1980s from Early New England Potters and Their Wares. A pamphlet was also printed, and these black and white photos show how the exhibit actually appeared.

Lura Woodside Watkins Exhibition at the Smithsonian Institute

Lura Woodside Watkins (1897-1982) Exhibition at the Smithsonian Institute

These Objects were all Illustrated in Early New England Potters and Their Wares

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Photo Courtesy: Smithsonian Institute

Lura Woodside Watkins (1897-1982) Exhibition at the Smithsonian Institute

These Objects were all Illustrated in Early New England Potters and Their Wares

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Photo Courtesy: Smithsonian Institute

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The Unknown Origin of a Colorfully Glazed 19th or 20th Century Red Earthenware Jar

A few years ago, this nineteenth century red earthenware jar decorated with a colorful glaze showed up in a Midwestern dealer's booth at Antiques in Manchester The Collector's Fair in Manchester, New Hampshire. At the time, a friend asked me what I thought about it, and I remember saying that I had never seen anything like it before. It was reportedly previously found in an estate in central Ohio.

Evidently, though I have not forgotten about this piece, but I have been unable to determine where it was manufactured. It was suggested that it may have been from North Carolina, the Shenandoah Valley or New England, but I am not sure of any of those attributions, and very doubtful that it was made in New England. The form appears early-to-mid-nineteenth century; however, the glaze presents more of a late-nineteenth or early-twentieth century art pottery appearance, which is confusing.

Apparently, the jar was purchased in Manchester by an antiques dealer or interior designer from Aspen, Colorado, where it was then eventually sold to a private collector. Nevertheless, the jar is large standing almost thirteen-inches tall, and heavy even for its size. If at all possible, it would be great to learn if anyone reading this post knows anything about this object's origin. It would be great to determine if this represents the production of an American or even a Canadian manufacturer. But thus far, I have been unable to find any evidence to suggest where it was made with a comparable form and glaze. What are your thoughts? American? Canadian? European? Even Asian?

19th or 20th Century Colorfully Glazed Red Earthenware Jar

19th or 20th Century Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Jar
Origin Unknown

Stands 12 3/4" Tall
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Photo Courtesy: 1stdibs

Another View of the Jar

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View of the Interior

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View of the Base

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A Style of Red Earthenware Jar Made in Central Pennsylvania in the 1800s

Although, this type of jar is well-known today in Pennsylvania, it is not necessarily a style of production that is widely recognized outside of the state. But based on marked examples, it can be determined that some of these jars were made at the Henry Swope Sr. (1826-90)  Pottery in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, circa 1840-60, located on the southwest corner of the intersection of Routes 23 and 772 in Lancaster County. These type of jars are also known to have been made in various sizes adorned in different decorations.

Henry learned about red earthenware production from his father, Frederick Swope, who according to a book published in 1914 by the Lehigh County Historical Society, History of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Its Families,"established the Mechanicsburg Pottery on a triangle formed by the pike and the Newport Road. The pottery business continued by him until 1850, when his son Henry took charge of the establishment, and built a second kiln and enlarged the two-story main building."

However, this form of jar was also apparently made by Frederick R. Leutzinger (1817-79) based on a marked example in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. According to the museum, "Leutzinger was born in Berne, Switzerland and came to America in 1847, where he operated a pottery in Clearfield in central Pennsylvania, circa 1853-79."

In addition to that, the Philadelphia Museum of Art owns a jar attributed to Henry Gast (1806-89) in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, decorated on each side with a figure of George Washington, and below that is the name, "WASHINGTON." I wrote about the Gast family and other potters from this area in an article that was published in the June 15, 2018 issue of Antiques & Auction News, titled "The Archaeology of an 18th-Century Pottery in Lancaster County, Pa."

And to make it even more confusing, in the collection of the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut is another jar decorated on each side with a figure of George Washington, which is attributed to Henry Swope Sr. As a result, there is perhaps some confusion with what jars were made where and by whom.

Nevertheless, it would be wonderful to learn how this form is associated with three different nineteenth century potters in central Pennsylvania, all of which descend from different backgrounds. Personally, I feel this is a great type of production from nineteenth century Pennsylvania, and this particular jar is the smallest that I have ever handled.

Central Pennsylvania Red Earthenware Jars

19th Century Red Earthenware Jar Made in Central Pennsylvania

This Type of Jar is Associated with Multiple Potter's Businesses in the Area

Stands 6 1/2" Tall

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Another View of the Jar

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Another View of the Jar

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Another View of the Jar

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View of the Base

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 19th Century Red Earthenware Jar Made by Frederick R. Leutzinger in Clearfield, PA

The Base is Marked "LEUZINGER.S / POTTERY"
Circa 1853-79
Stands 10 7/8" Tall
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Photo Courtesy: Philadelphia Museum of Art

View of the Mark on the Base "LEUZINGER.S / POTTERY"

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Photo Courtesy: Philadelphia Museum of Art

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American Red Earthenware Face Jug Owned for Many Years in Connecticut

I recently acquired this unglazed American red earthenware face jug, which was previously owned for many years by a prominent collector and Americana dealer in Connecticut. And while I cannot say where exactly it was made, the base appears to have been hand-thrown on a potter's wheel, while the rest of the object was modeled by hand and then applied. The jug opening is on top of the figure's head, and it extends through the applied neck into the body.

Earlier this year, I viewed a variety of unglazed red earthenware face jugs from the Mr. and Mrs. George H. Myer Collection, which are on display as part of a larger face jug exhibit at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York. But I also saw another unglazed example made by Carl W. Bach in Allentown, Pennsylvania circa 1880-90 in an exhibit at the Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, titled "Thrown, Fired, and Glazed: The Redware Tradition from Pennsylvania and Beyond." That jug was on loan from the collection of the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center in Kutztown, Pennsylvania.

According to a book published in 1914 by the Lehigh County Historical Society, History of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Its Families, "Carl Wilhelm Bach, a native of Constadt, Schwovenland, Germany, was born December 2, 1829. He married Elizabeth C. Englert, born June 8, 1833, and died in 1890. They came to this country with their four oldest children, and shortly afterwards they settled at No. 417 North Penn Street, Allentown (about sixty-five miles northwest of Philadelphia) where he pursued his occupation as a potter, and conducted what was known as the Allentown Pottery. They had five children: Charles, Pauline, Eberhart, Herman and Emma." 

Based on a billhead or ledger table from the collection of the Lehigh County Historical Society, now displayed in the pottery exhibit at the Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum, Charles Bach succeeded his father in the Allentown Pottery about 1890, which continued to operate until 1908.

By no means am I saying that this jug was made at the Allentown Pottery, and even though I cannot say where it was made, this shape of jug and its unglazed appearance are styles found throughout the American pottery industry in the nineteenth and early-twentieth century.

American Red Earthenware Face Jug

American Red Earthenware Face Jug

The Body Appears to Have Been Hand-Thrown While the Rest was Modeled by Hand and Applied

Stands 6 1/2" Tall

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A Closer View of the Face

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View of the Jug's Opening on the Figure's Head

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View of One Side

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View of the Other Side

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View of the Base

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View of the Base

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