The Incredible 17th Century Artifacts Uncovered at the Garrett Site in Charlestown, Massachusetts

The idea of seventeenth-century red earthenware made in New England is basically only legend to me. There is scholarly information in certain publications; however the concept of any existing is unheard of. Even the idea of related shards is not something I have ever known about until recently.

In this report, I am going to introduce you to a group of red earthenware shards that could possibly be among the earliest products identified to a pre-1650 context from any American potter known to exist. With my continued study for my eventual book - I have come across a group of red earthenware products most-likely made in Charlestown, Massachusetts that are from a 1638-1658 archaeological context. Absolutely incredible! If these shards have taught me anything - it is that the earliest red earthenware products made in New England appear to have been thickly potted wares with very minimal glazes. Slip decoration does not appear to have been used until the end of the seventeenth-century (post-1675) in Charlestown.

These shards were uncovered from a cellar hole that was filled in around 1658. A ship captain by the name of Garrett built a home on Charlestown's waterfront in 1638 - and by 1658, the home had been removed and the stone-lined cellar was filled-in with local landfill. The foundation hole was approximately 9x12 feet. If you happen to remember my report from a few months ago - where I introduced a group of seventeenth-century red earthenware pipes - this is the man/merchant whom they belonged to (January 25th Report). Garrett was a sea traveler and probably an explorer. His home was filled with foreign products that included Delft tiles with exotic animals, tin glazed ceramics from Portugal, Spain and France and he even appeared to have had a stock-pile of cannon balls. It is a bit of mystery the reason behind the cannon balls, but a number of them were found when the property was excavated in the 1980s by a team of professional archaeologists on behalf of the Big Dig Archaeology Project.

A Pair of Cannon Balls Uncovered at the Garrett Site

There Were Many More

Origin Not Known

Ca. 1638-1658 Archaeological Context

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

Rocks that Were Previously Apart of the Garrett House Foundation or Cellar

Ca. 1638-1658 Archaeological Context

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

It is my belief, the domestic red earthenware found on this property was related to Phillip Drinker, who is reportedly New England's first utilitarian red earthenware potter. This is what I have learned about his products - he made thickly potted products that measured upwards of 3/4" or more in thickness and his glazes were basic ranging from black to different shades of brown. Sometimes the brown glazes were littered with darker brown spots - similar to products made by Maine potters in the nineteenth-century. The simple products may also relate to the state of the Charlestown business in the seventeenth-century - where it was not an overly successful operation and the finances were not abundant. There may have been slip decoration, but I am yet to find any results of it before 1675.

Here is how some of these 1638-1658 red earthenware products appear:

 17th Century Red Earthenware Shard - Probably Made in Charlestown, Ma

Probably Related to the Drinker Pottery

Uncovered at the Garrett Site

Ca. 1638-1658 Archaeological Context

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

 Interesting Brown Glaze with Dark Brown Spots

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

Typical Expected Clay Color of Products Made in Charlestown in the 17th and 18th Centuries

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

An interesting characteristic I have found with some of these seventeenth-century products is the appearance of a bottom glaze. It's not a technique often-found with red earthenware products made in New England before or after the American Revolution. 

 17th Century Red Earthenware Crock or Jar Shards - Probably Made in Charlestown, Ma

Probably Related to the Drinker Pottery

Uncovered at the Garrett Site

Ca. 1638-1658 Archaeological Context

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

 Very Interesting Bottom Glaze Similar to the Product Below

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

 17th Century Red Earthenware Crock or Jar Shard - Probably Made in Charlestown, Ma

Probably Related to the Drinker Pottery

Uncovered at the Garrett Site

Ca. 1638-1658 Archaeological Context

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

Very Interesting Bottom Glaze Similar to the Product Above

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

Here are a few more photos of mostly Charlestown-made red earthenware; although there are a few European products scattered in amongst the shards.

 Small Brown Glazed Red Earthenware Handle - Probably Made in Charlestown, Ma

Probably Related to the Drinker Pottery

Uncovered at the Garrett Site

Ca. 1638-1658 Archaeological Context

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

 Another Angle to the Handle

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

 Mixture of 17th Century Red Earthenware Shards - Probably Made in Charlestown, Ma

Probably Related to the Drinker Pottery

Uncovered at the Garrett Site

Ca. 1638-1658 Archaeological Context

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

Mostly 17th Century Red Earthenware Products Related to Charlestown, Ma

A Few European Shards Mixed in

Uncovered at the Garrett Site

Ca. 1638-1658 Archaeological Context

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

I found it interesting seeing the amount of bricks that were uncovered at the Garrett site. It is my belief that they were probably the remains of the chimney system that once existed. I assume the bricks were also made locally; however I do not know of any brick-makers who worked in Charlestown this early, but they must have been there. The clay source was likely the same as that used by the Charlestown potters in the seventeenth and eighteenth-centuries.

17th Century Brick Probably Made in Charlestown

Maybe Related to the Chimney System at the Garrett House

Uncovered at the Garrett Site

Ca. 1638-1658 Archaeological Context

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

Among my favorite artifacts at the Garrett site was an incredible Iberian jar. I am not expert, but I believe Iberian jars sometimes held olives and are occasionally attributed to Spain. The jar features an interesting pair of incised lines placed on the shoulder that is a similar characteristic applied by many New England potters to jugs and related products made in the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries.

 17th Century Iberian Jar that May Have Been Made in Spain

It Could Possibly Have Held Olives En Route for the New World

Uncovered at the Garrett Site

Ca. 1638-1658 Archaeological Context

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

Incised Lines Around Should Were Commonly Used by Potters Throughout New England

I will leave you with these two pictures of a stoneware shard found within the same 1638-1658 context. I assume it is a German product; however I am not positive of that. The exterior glaze was much more vibrant than the duller glaze on the interior. 

 17th Century Stoneware Shard - Possibly a Tankard

Uncovered at the Garrett Site

Ca. 1638-1658 Archaeological Context

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

 Interior of Stoneware Shard

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

Much More to Come...

Sgraffito Decoration and the Early Pennsylvania-German Red Earthenware Potters

"When the first German immigrants settled in Pennsylvania, late in the seventeenth century, they brought the art of sgraffito and slip decoration with them, and established it as a new process of ceramic manufacture in the state. The pioneer German potters erected numerous small pot-works for the manufacture of such wares as were needed to supply the simple wants of their neighbours. Each local pottery seems to have been supported by the patronage of relatives and friends of the proprietor, or by sales which were made in the neighbouring towns...and about the middle of the eighteenth century a number of American potters in eastern Pennsylvania began the manufacture of sgraffito and slip decorated earthenware, having adopted the German methods, even to the extent of employing the tulip as a decorative motif and using English inscriptions to beautify their more ornate productions." (Edwin Atlee Barber - Lead Glazed Pottery - Doubleday, Page & Co, New York, 1907)

American archaeologist and author, Edwin Atlee Barber (1851-1916) described the process of sgraffito in the book, Tulip Ware of the Pennsylvania-German Potters; "Slip engraving consists of covering the ware completely with a thin coating of slip, through which the ornamental devices are scratched with a pointed instrument, to show the darker clay beneath...sgraffito work is characterized by dark designs in white or yellowish field...decorations generally appear as depressed."

Shown below are examples of sgraffito decorated plates, which include a motif I absolutely enjoy - the tulip, which first became popular when Turkish potters incorporated the flower into their products in the sixteenth-century. The idea behind the tulip soon after spread throughout Europe before landing in the New World.

The first picture is from a recent sale held at Pook and Pook Auctions in Downington, Pennsylvania - it is what I would describe as a wonderful example of tulip ware made by the Pennsylvania-German potter, Solomon Grimm. High-end examples of tulip decorated red earthenware can achieve results that reach hundreds-of-thousands of dollars in today's market. The motif was likely the most popular with potters in Pennsylvania and North Carolina in the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries. The remaining photos were taken from the large collection of Pennsylvania-made plates currently on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art - where many examples of sgraffito decoration can be seen.

Berks County, Pennsylvania Sgraffito or Tulip Ware Red Earthenware Plate

Ca. 1800-1820

Attributed to the German-Pennsylvania Potter Solomon Grimm

Photo Courtesy: Pook and Pook Auctions - Downington, Pa

 Large Collection of Pennsylvania-Made Red Earthenware Plates

Many Examples of Sgraffito Decoration are Seen

Ca. 18th and 19th Centuries

Photo Courtesy: Philadelphia Museum of Art - Philadelphia, Pa

 Large Collection of Pennsylvania-Made Red Earthenware Plates

Many Examples of Sgraffito Decoration are Seen

Ca. 18th and 19th Centuries

Photo Courtesy: Philadelphia Museum of Art - Philadelphia, Pa

Large Collection of Pennsylvania-Made Red Earthenware Plates

Many Examples of Sgraffito Decoration are Seen

Ca. 18th and 19th Centuries

Photo Courtesy: Philadelphia Museum of Art - Philadelphia, Pa

I recently acquired a wonderful early example of Pennsylvania red earthenware from Robesonia, Pennsylvania antiques dealer Greg Kramer. As you can see below - it's in the form of a bottle, which is a rare form from any American utilitarian potter. The bottle may date to the  last-quarter of the eighteenth-century. The reason for showing this bottle is it reminds me of an example of sgraffito without the scratch decoration. Prior to Greg Kramer's ownership - it was previously in the important collection of the late Pennsylvania-German potter, Lester Breininger - who also operated and resided in Robesonia. I do not believe the bottle was made in Philadelphia, but it was probably instead a product made in one of the nearby counties. The bottle features green and yellow slip decoration - with a clear lead glaze. It stands roughly seven inches tall and is thinly potted. I have never seen another bottle in this form with this type of glaze before. I assume it was intended for a utilitarian purpose; however my initial and natural observation is that it is actually a vase intended for freshly cut flowers and a more formal setting.

 Pennsylvania Red Earthenware Bottle

Probably Late 18th Century, Possibly Early 19th Century

Stands Roughly 7" Tall

 Bottle is Decorated in Yellow and Green Slip with a Clear Lead Glaze

Wonderful Form that was Thinly Potted

 Base of Bottle

Interior of Bottle

The study of Pennsylvania potters and their use of sgraffito decoration is a wonderful topic. Not many potters outside of Pennsylvania even attempted such decoration and very few (excluding North Carolina potters) achieved the quality and recognition today in which the potters of Pennsylvania have garnered. A strong case can be made that the Pennsylvania potters as a collective group were more talented than any other state (don't persecute me for saying that...I know an argument can be made for every region) in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

For more information about tulip and sgraffito decoration - you can use the search feature on this website for a group of reports I wrote last spring that specifically focused on the use of tulips by early American immigrant craftsmen.

Much More to Come...

19th Century Red Earthenware Crocks or Pots from New Hampshire and Possibly Maine Potters

While making a trip to north-central Massachusetts last weekend - I made a quick detour across the New Hampshire border into Greenville, New Hampshire. I stopped at a large warehouse-style antique shop that I have found success at in the past - and like previous stops, I discovered an interesting example of nineteenth-century New England red earthenware that I would like to discuss today.

There are a few reasons I purchased this jar - 1) it still retains what appears to be its original lid, 2) the lid is unusual and 3) it has been glazed with three separate glaze colors - all of which were placed on areas of the crock that would stand out to the consumer. The glaze colors also probably showed well in nicely lit areas of the household. It's especially surprising to see three different glaze colors. I'm not sure what the idea behind this purpose was - it may have possibly been a marketing or advertising strategy - or maybe the potter ran out of glaze and mixed three left-over colors on this specific piece. Different glazes can be seen on the interior, around the handle and the top of the lid. The lid is also especially surprising due to the amount of holes that were placed into it. When was the last time you saw a red earthenware lid attributed to New England with four holes in it?! This is a first for me. I assume the holes were intended to release steam; although I do not see any indication on the pot or crock to suggest it was ever exposed to hot temperatures outside of the kiln or even an open flame.

The lid is decorated in a tannish-brown and black speckled glaze - the interior is colored in an orange glaze - and the handle shows a brown glaze with black speckles. All shine very nicely in the natural sunlight.

 19th Century Red Earthenware Crock Recently Found in Greenville, NH

Probably a New Hampshire or Maine Potter

 This Pot or Crock Shows Three Different Glaze Colors

Very Unusual for any American Potter

 Unusual Glaze Style Seen on the Handle

Similar to Both Glazed Pots or Crocks Below

 Interior Glaze is Similar to Glazes Seen in Southern Maine

 Very Unusual Lid with Four Punched Holes

Never Seen a Lid Like this Before

 Interesting Burn Mark on the Underside of the Lid

Lead Believed to be Original

Pot or Crock Stands Just Under 7" Tall with the Lid

The New Hampshire Historical Society owns two similar pots that may be related. Both examples demonstrate a similar glazed handle; however neither still retain their original lid. The first is attributed to New Hampshire with no specific attribution to a region or a potter. It was found in the home of Eva Farnum of Concord, who was reportedly married to Benjamin Herbert Farnum - who was a farmer in Concord in the nineteenth-and-twentieth-centuries. There is no strong evidence to say how the couple obtained the piece or if it predated the couple's residence in their home. It was possibly an item that was left in the Concord home from the previous occupants, but I have no way to confirm that either. There is no real evidence to say how the pot or crock came into the possession of Benjamin and Eva. It does have two separate glazes - the interior is described as a clear yellow glaze by the historical society with an olive and green glaze wrapped around the handle with black speckles seen throughout it.

19th Century Red Earthenware Pot or Crock - Probably a New Hampshire Potter

Ca. 1800-1900

Interior is Glazed in a Clear "Yellow" Glaze

Exterior is Glazed in an Olive-Yellow Glaze with Black Speckles

Photo Courtesy: New Hampshire Historical Society - Concord, NH

The second pot or crock has a strong provenance since it was stamped, J.S. Taft & Co/Keene NH. The big difference I see between the three crocks of discussion is the glaze - where the two crocks in the collection of the New Hampshire Historical Society all bear two glaze colors - while the crock I found in Greenville, New Hampshire is adorned in three colorful glazes. There is a chance the crocks the New Hampshire Historical Society owns may have had a lid with a third glaze - and there is a chance they did not. The following crock has been glazed on the interior with a cream glaze and the exterior shows a red and green variegated glaze.

19th Century Red Earthenware Pot or Crock Stamped J.S. Taft & Co/Keene NH

Reportedly Ca. 1871-1904

Interior is Glazed in a Cream Glaze

Exterior is Glazed in a Red-Green Glaze

Photo Courtesy: New Hampshire Historical Society - Concord, NH

The business in Keene, New Hampshire was started by James Scolley Taft in 1871. The company began with simple utilitarian products like stoneware and red earthenware before it quickly focused on molded pottery products intended for household use in the dining room and sometimes strictly for decoration. I do have questions if the crock stamped J.S. Taft & Co (shown above) was actually made at the Keene business or if it was made elsewhere. It is suggested the crock was made between 1871-1904 due to the company stamp that was impressed. Taft's company also sold stoneware products in the 1870s and 1880s that were branded with the company name, but were actually commissioned through New Jersey potters. I am curious to know if that is the case with this crock. Could it have been made at another New Hampshire, Maine - or even Vermont potter's business?

I personally feel the crock I found in Greenville may have been made in southern Maine. I have seen similar glazed shards at the Bickford Pottery (19th century) site in Buxton, Maine that compare to the interior of the pot . Similar shards have also been seen at a related pottery in Limington, Maine that also operated in the nineteenth-century; although seeing the multi-glazed crocks owned by the New Hampshire Historical Society also makes me question a possible New Hampshire-maker. It's all very interesting. Forms like these crocks were made by potters all over America in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth-centuries by related stoneware and red-earthenware potters.

Much More to Come...

18th Century Imitation by the Early Red Earthenware Potters of Charlestown, Massachusetts

Lighting devices have been used for thousands of years to properly light areas when darkness sets in. Its a device that has spanned the globe from one-country to the next. The forms have varied - so haven't the materials, but the purpose has always remained the same. Metals, clays, woods and whatever other substances that could hold a flame - have been used by just about all imaginable cultures. No matter the form, a small hand-held flame may have been used for night-time reading, the dinner table, a chamber or bedroom, a cellar, the outdoors, the indoors and an infinitive amount of increased demands - the needs were really endless.

In the book I am writing, I discuss the idea that Charlestown, Massachusetts red earthenware potters occasionally copied imported European products that were sought after in the American colonies. In today's report, I would like to introduce a red earthenware candlestick or candle-holder that appears to imitate an earthenware product made in Staffordshire, England in the middle of eighteenth-century. Candlesticks are considered rare from any American potter in the eighteenth-or-nineteenth-centuries. It wasn't a red earthenware form that saw a lot of popularity with the marketplace. I only known of a small number of candlesticks that were made by utilitarian American potters - and I have not found it was a product that was made in every state. I have seen candlesticks made in Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia - but nothing I know of from anywhere else. I imagine states like Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland and North Carolina may have produced related products; however I cannot personally provide proof of it. The candlestick form became much-more popular with art potters during the American Arts & Crafts Movement (Ca. 1860s-1930s).

Essex County, Massachusetts Red Earthenware Candesticks or Candle-Holders

Purportedly Made at Moses Paige Pottery - Peabody (South Danvers), Ma

Ca. Late 19th Century (Likely After 1880)

Photo Courtesy: Peabody Historical Society - Peabody, Ma

The particular candlestick I am going to show today was found in a pre-1775 context in Charlestown - within the Maudlin Street Archaeological District. Maudlin Street was apart of the central area of Charlestown, located just to the west of the Town Dock where many of the industry's potters worked. Maudlin Street was home to a group of houses that burned at the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775. It was connected to the City Square neighborhood, which was the heart of Charlestown. City Square contained a number of shops and the Three Cranes Tavern - an important building that was originally known as the Great House when it was built for John Winthrop in the seventeenth-century. Pictured below is all that remains of what I perceive to be a copied candlestick or candle-holder from a local potter who used an English manufacturer as inspiration.

 Possibly Charlestown, Ma Red Earthenware Candlestick or Candle-Holder

Uncovered at the Maudlin Street Archaeological District in Charlestown, Ma

Probably Ca. 1740-1775

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

Base of Candlestick or Candle-Holder

Probably Made by a Local Potter

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

Boston City Archaeologist, Joe Bagley quickly turned to his library after I pulled this shard from the Charlestown collection last year. What he found was what appears to be a similar formed earthenware product made in Staffordshire - and thus the reason why I suggest this shard may have been a copy or imitation of that product. I have never seen another related American red earthenware product beyond this shard. It may have been a unique product, but certainly (in my opinion) not a product that was in regular production by Charlestown's potters. Unfortunately, the potter or business is not currently known.  

Pictured below is a Staffordshire earthenware candlestick from the mid-eighteenth-century that was found in Williamsburg, Virginia. I looked in Colonial Williamsburg's ceramic database; however I was not able to find the actual candleholder so the black-and-white photo will have to do for now. The idea is similar to the shard's form above.

Staffordshire, England Earthenware Candleholder

Ca. Mid-18th-Century

Found in Williamsburg, Va

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

The Charlestown potters seem to have been innovative, creative and imitative with their production. I have seen shards found in various sections of Charlestown where forms appear to be a copy of its European counterpart. It's rather interesting to see these types of products in a time when European ceramics were highly sought after by those living in the American colonies. Similar copied products have been found in archaeological contexts in Virigina, Pennsylvania, New York and New Hampshire; although I assume if there was a strong market for European products in the colonies there was a potter who tried to capitalize with their own product. This is the case with one of the most-fascinating merchants and potters who worked in Boston before 1775 - when Benjamin Leigh and Jonathan Allman began an imitation company borrowing their product's appearance from a well-established English manufacturer in 1769. The story progressed into a loyalist who tried to undermine an English product in Boston - who then eventually played a pivotal role in the Boston Massacre. This subject is currently under study and will also be a part of the book I am writing. This type of imitation was seen all-over before 1775  - and really, its still very-much a part of our culture today that can be seen in industries through tangible and intangible products from all-over the world.

Much More to Come...

A Very-Rare Red Earthenware Marriage Jar Made in Whately, Massachusetts Around 1820-1830

Before I get into today's report, I would like to share a citation taken from the book, In Pursuit of Beauty: Americans and the Aesthetic Movement - published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in 1986: "..."Greek Painted Vases," an article that appeared in the American Art Amateur in 1882 - a time when vogue for these reproductions was beginning to wane - quotes Dresser's (Christopher Dresser) remarks on the lesson to be learned from ancient models: "Whatever ornament is placed around a cup, or vase...should be such as will not suffer in perspective, for there is scarcely any portion of the ornament that can be seen otherwise that foreshortened. Let simplicity be the ruling principle in the decoration of all rounded objects." Design characteristics adopted from Greek pottery, among which flat, stylized decoration with a minimum of modeling or shading was especially prized, resulted in the simplified designs that helped to characterize aesthetic pottery. Facsimiles of Greek terracotta vessels were some of the earliest artistic ceramics produced in America. The first known reference to an "artware line" appeared in 1872, when "the Beverly Pottery at the request of Boston ladies began to copy beautiful forms of ancient vases to order." Charles A. Lawrence, the superintendent of that Massachusetts factory, intentionally limited his production of imitation Greek pottery, for he feared that if it became common it would depreciate in value. He therefore sold it only in small lots to his "artistic" friends for their own private collection."

I think this citation speaks to the importance and rarity of C.A. Lawrence Pottery today no matter the form, need or use. It is in my opinion that this Beverly business is one of the more important Massachusetts potters/businesses employed in the nineteenth-century. The fact a potter was able to achieve the highest standards of traditional utilitarian red earthenware, garden statuary, art pottery and decorative pottery is quite an astounding accomplishment. Charles A. Lawrence kept with the market trends while remaining with a strong product quality. He obviously was not only interested in product turn-over; rather Lawrence's primary focus appeared to culminate around a product line that achieved the highest possible standard.

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In today's report - I would like to discuss what I perceive to be one of the most important examples of red earthenware I have seen made in central or western Massachusetts from the eighteenth-or-nineteenth-centuries. The auction-house, Crocker Farm, Inc. of Sparks, Maryland has been consigned an incredible jar made in Whately, Massachusetts with a wonderful local history that documents a strong relationship between two families. According to Crocker Farm, "...The glazed redware jar has been inscribed "Louisa Dickenson" and "Whately, Lemuel A. Wait." The jar was probably made around 1820-1830 by the potter, Lemuel Alvin Wait for his future wife, Louisa Dickenson. This is the only marriage jar I know of made in New England that was not apart of the industry in southeastern Massachusetts (See Hilary and Paulette Nolan Collection - Northeast Auctions, August 2004 catalog for examples). I perceive these marriage jars made in southeastern Massachusetts to be some of the most important examples of New England redware to exist today - for many factors that begin with an extremely important (incised) provenance. Very-few are known to exist and I would place this Whately jar in the same category.

The Whately jar features a wonderful grouping of incised line work, an ovoid body, flared rim and two rounded carrying handles. The green glaze is attractive with peach-colored halos that were likely caused from iron impurities in the clay. Purely, it's just a wonderful example of New England red earthenware with a written inscription, which only makes it that much better.

Whately, Ma Red Earthenware Marriage Jar

Incised "Louisa Dickenson" and "Whately, Lemuel A. Wait"

Ca. 1820-1830

Height: 10 1/4"

Wonderful Proportions

Photo Courtesy: Crocker Farm, Inc. - Sparks, Md

 Nicely Applied Decorative Incised Lines
Photo Courtesy: Crocker Farm, Inc. - Sparks, Md 

 Wonderful Rounded Handles
Photo Courtesy: Crocker Farm, Inc. - Sparks, Md 

Beautiful Green and Peach Colored Glaze
Photo Courtesy: Crocker Farm, Inc. - Sparks, Md 

Whately is located in western Massachusetts just to the north of Amherst. It was an area that employed at least 23 potters in the nineteenth-century, who worked in red earthenware or stoneware products - and sometimes they made both. Lemuel Wait was employed on behalf of the Wait family of potters and he is listed in Lura Woodside Watkins book, Early New England Potters and Their Wars.

A red earthenware jar listed on Connecticut antique dealers, Christine Hanaeur and Randy Seidman's website has always stumped me on a possible maker, but after seeing the jar Crocker Farm has available - I think there is a chance it could be related. They describe it as, "...A beautifully formed ovoid jar that reminds me of the shape of (stoneware) jars thrown by Frederick Carpenter (Charlestown, Masss - 18th & 19th centuries).

As I said in yesterday's report, forms sometimes varied inside a business because of multiple employed potters. That could possibly be the case with these two jars. I do see similarities, but I also see obvious differences. It also reminds me of products made in New Hampshire; however those jars were often a much-different form typically made in the southwestern and central parts of the state.

Massachusetts or New Hampshire Red Earthenware Jar

Form is Similar to the Jar Above, But Also Resembles Products Made in New Hampshire

Photo Courtesy: Hanauer & Seidman Antiques - Colchester, Ct

 Similar Rounded Handles as the Jar Above

Photo Courtesy: Hanauer & Seidman Antiques - Colchester, Ct

I would assume the Whately jar will do well at Crocker Farm in July. I presume there will be a group of collectors and dealers interested - and possibly even the Whately Historical Society. Other institutions could also jump into the bidding. I'll update this report in a few months after the jar sells - hopefully with exciting results. Maybe I'll even try and buy it!

 Much More to Come...

A Comparison of Products Made in Merrimacport, Mass and Peabody, Mass: The Continued Study

If you haven't guessed yet, the stew pot shown to the left was made in Merrimacport (West Amesbury), Massachusetts and the pitcher shown to the right was made in Peabody (South Danvers), Massachusetts. Both were likely manufactured between the 1800-1840 period.

When I initially purchased the Peabody-made pitcher at an auction last May in New Hampshire - I originally thought it was made in Merrimacport because of the handle. It had been partially painted red, which I have since removed. The pitcher's handle looked so-similar to the expected handles I have come to know as Merrimacport products; however it was confusing because the overall pitcher's form was a style that was used in Peabody in the eighteenth-and-nineteenth-centuries. What I have come to realize is that similar formed handles were made in both communities - the only real difference I can see is that Merrimacport handles were synonymous from one handle to the next - while in Peabody the form sometimes changed in quality. I have occasionally found a more crude handle was applied in Peabody that sometimes appears amateur when compared to the quality of these handles seen blow. To make it easy - the handles do not always appear the same. A better word (rather than amateur) would probably be a lack of detail or attention given to the handle. The handles were likely the last feature added - and in some instances, a group of pitchers may have had their handles applied all at once - which may indicate why not all the handles are as perfectly executed as this Peabody example. The potters in Merrimacport also worked in a county business atmosphere - while the potters in Peabody worked in an industry atmosphere turning out more products.

Overall - the clay color, the ovoid bodies and size are all similar on these two products - and both glaze colors were used in each area so it can get a bit confusing. The amount of products made in Peabody was much greater than in Merrimacport, but survivors from either area are considered rare today. There had to have been some-sort of influence considering both businesses were located close to each other. It can also be assumed potters from Peabody may have visited the Merrimaport businesses and likewise. There had to have been some-kind of interaction over the years, whether it was through person-to-person contact or viewing each others products, but that's only my opinion - I have no proof of it - only assumption. It would make sense.

(Left) Merrimacport, Ma Red Earthenware Stew Pot

Ca. 1800-1840

(Right) Peabody, Ma Red Earthenware Pitcher

Ca. 1800-1840

Very Similar Handles on the Merrimacport, Ma and Peabody, Ma Products

Clay Color, Size and Ovoid Bodies Are Also Similar

I believe the Peabody-made pitcher was made at the Osborn-family pottery around 1840. Peabody was home to many red earthenware businesses in the eighteenth-and-nineteenth-centuries and the Osborn Pottery was arguably the most prominent among the group. The Osborn family employed at least 32 documented Osborn potters in the eighteenth-and-nineteenth-centuries.  I think it is fair to say that not all the Osborn potters were equal in skill and that may account for why some products appear different than others. For example, if you were to examine two separate jugs made at the Osborn Pottery in 1840, there is a chance they will not appear exactly the same despite having the same glaze. My belief is multiple potters may account for this difference. The products in Peabody were often more thickly potted than the products made 20 miles to the north.

In Merrimacport, it was different. All the products, whether they were made at William Pecker's businesss (1784-1820) or at the Chase family pottery (Ca. 1820-1860) looked uniform from one product to the next. It's possible that the smaller amount of potters and equal skill levels accounted for the products keeping with an equal quality. I also tend to see a higher level of perfection with Merrimacport products that I do not see with the average product from Peabody - but don't get me wrong - there are many wonderful products made in both areas. Although I do feel that despite the similarities, William Pecker was the more accomplished potter. It is also my belief that there was more glaze experimentation at the Pecker and Chase Potteries (Ca. 1784-1860) than there was in Peabody (early 18th century to early 20th century). I feel the most accomplished products in Peabody were made in the eighteenth-century. Both areas are thought to have used slip decoration. It was used sparingly after the American Revolution in both areas; however it was used more in Peabody before 1775.

This is an analysis that can be done with potters from all over America. The counties of Pennsylvania shared similarities from one business to the next just like the potters of Western New York did. It's really interesting to see the regional differences, but on the contrary - to visualize the similarities of related products within a region is equally fascinating.

Much More to Come...

A Newly Discovered Red Earthenware Jar that May Have Ties to an 18th Century Massachusetts Industry

I know I said I would write the second part about the differences and similarities of many red earthenware products made in Merrimacport (West Amesbury), Massachusetts and Peabody (South Danvers), Massachusetts in my next report; however I would like to postpone that report until next week to discuss a new example of (likely) eighteenth-century red earthenware that just recently emerged from a house in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

A Rowley, Massachusetts antiques dealer recently made a house call (house clean-out) and in that home - he found a very-rare formed piece of red earthenware and a lamp made at the Merrimac Pottery Company in Newburyport - that I helped attribute for him. In exchange, he gave me a very good price on the following jar with no attribution other than where it was found.

When I initially saw the jar, I was thrown back by the unusual form. The glaze made me immediately think it was made in Maine, where this type of glaze is commonly attributed to; although it was also used elsewhere in New England in parts of Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut. The form is really what stood out to me. It reminds of an oversized ink bottle, but I do not believe that was its purpose. Instead, I think it was intended for storage and if needed - a cloth was tied over it to protect whatever it held inside.

After quickly studying some shards I saw this fall, the glaze kind of threw me back because it matches shards I have seen from the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company and Ebenezer Morrison's businesses in Newburyport at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. Lura Woodside Watkins collected shards from both of these businesses in the 1930s and 1940s while writing her book, Early New England Potters and Their Wares (published by Harvard University in 1950). Both of these businesses are from the eighteenth-century - and most the potters who worked at them were employed before the American Revolution. There is so-little red earthenware left from eighteenth-century American potters that anything outside of a privy, a river bed or shore, a trash pit or an archaeological setting is exciting!

 Likely Newburyport, Mass Area Red Earthenware Jar

Possibly Made at the Daniel Bayley or Ebenezer Morrison Pottery Companies

Ca. 18th Century (Probably After 1775)

 Interior Glaze is Similar to the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Chamber Pot Shard Below

Clay Color Is Very-Similar to Clay Color of Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Shards Below

These following shards show a very-similar interior glaze to the recently found jar, the clay color is very-similar and the spotted exterior glaze is also similar when comparing the idea behind the shards to the jar.  I would be surpised to learn otherwise, if this is in-fact - not a Newburyport-area-made product.

Watkins described many of the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company shards as, "…brown glaze spattered with darker brown (spots)," in Early New England Potters and Their Wares. This type of glaze was common with many eighteenth-century potters that spanned businesses/industries from Charlestown-to-Newburyport, from Fitchburg-to-Portsmouth and all-over Essex County in the eighteenth-century. The reason I believe this jar may be related to the Newburyport industry is because of two large factors; glaze and clay color - and then of course, where it was found.

 Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Red Earthenware Shards

Ca. 1764-1799

The Glaze and Clay Color is Very-Similar to the Jar Above

Photo Courtesy: The National Museum of American History, The Smithsonian - Washington, D.C.

Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Red Earthenware Chamber Pot Shard

Ca. 1764-1799

The Interior Glaze is Almost Identical to the Jar Above

The Exterior Glaze is Also Comparable

Photo Courtesy: The National Museum of American History, The Smithsonian - Washington, D.C.

Exciting, isn't it!? I would be hesitant to say if this jar was made at either the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company or Ebenezer Morrison's business because products from each business almost mirrored each other. The businesses were located across the street from each other. Potters worked at both businesses with products in each location sharing styles and techniques. I think the biggest indicator in this instance would be the form; although I have not seen any shards that represent this form -  I will have to stick to the glaze and clay color for now.

Stay tuned for the second part of the Merrimacport and Peabody report...