EarlyAmericanCeramics.com

Saturday, May 23, 2015

A Beautiful Red Earthenware Pot Discovered in an Antique Shop in Northwood, New Hampshire Today

Earlier today, my father and I went out picking in New Hampshire in search of a proper spigot and a stoneware cover that would complete a stoneware water cooler that he purchased for my Mom for Mother's Day a few weeks ago. We began with a few shops on the New Hampshire seacoast before we made our way west to some shops in Central New Hampshire, which included the old-time 'Antique Alley' on Route 4. During the trip, I handled - and, examined a number of examples of utilitarian pottery; however, I didn't find anything that I had to have - until, I found a large slip decorated English-made red earthenware pot in a shop in Northwood, New Hampshire called, 'Coveway Antiques.'

Antique Shop in Central NH

Coveway Antiques - Northwood, NH

The man, who manages the shop told me the pot was recently found locally; he said it just came into the store. I knew immediately that it was made by a country potter in England in either the nineteenth or early-twentieth-century. Written in slip on the front of pot is the word, 'BREAD' - just above that is some beautifully executed comb decoration.

Based on the word that is written prominently on this pot - I assume that this jar was used for rising dough that was later used to make bread. Certainly, there was also a matching cover that originally accompanied this pot.

According to a book written by Andrew McGarva, 'Country Pottery: Traditional Earthenware of Britain,' "Only by studying the pots from a particular region of individual pottery can one recognize the variations in style, color, form and texture specific to them. The pots can sometimes be found in local museums or near their place of origin in auction sales, junk shops and, increasingly, in antique shops.

Britain has a hidden treasure, a vernacular tradition of pottery for home, farm and garden. If we take the term 'country' to distinguish these wares from the alternative urban industrial wares, this also provides us with the time-span of our story; from the beginning of the (English) industrial revolution in the mid-eighteenth century up to the Second World War (when almost all of the country potters had disappeared in England). These pots are artifacts from a way of life which no longer exists (today)."

Personally, I believe this large pot dates from the late-1800's, but there are probably arguments that could be had that may suggest it dates a little earlier or a little later. I also believe that it was possibly made by the potters, who were employed in either Buckley, (Wales) England, Yorkshire, England - or, at the least, Northern England. None-the-less, I feel it was a very-good find today!

My Niece, Alexis Shown with the Large Pot

Large 19th/20th Century Red Earthenware Pot Made by a Country Potter in England

The Word 'Bread' Is Written on the Front in Slip

Discovered Today in an Antique Shop in Northwood, NH

Originally Discovered in a House in Central New Hampshire

Stands 15 1/4" Tall

View of One of the Handles

View of the Interior

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

Friday, May 22, 2015

A Days Worth of Finds in a Home in East Sandwich, Massachusetts on Cape Cod

As my previous post suggested -- I was invited to pick a home in East Sandwich, Massachusetts today on Cape Cod; the home was full of period furniture - and, artwork from the 1800's and the 1900's. All of the objects that I picked descended through a relative of the family who was close friends to Frederick H. Norton, a fourth generation potter, who was a direct relative of the famed Norton family of potters in the 1700's and the 1800's. All of these pieces that I am about to show came directly from Norton to this family. Each piece is also labeled with a number on the base. The number corresponds with a number in a book that the family owns, which identifies the object and how it was obtained.

Sagamore Bridge - Cape Cod, Mass.

Cape Cod, Mass.

This first red earthenware vase is a wonderful small object that was made at Thomas Nickerson's Merrimac Pottery Company in Newburyport, Massachusetts in the late-1890's. It was identified by the family as having been made by Robertson in the late-nineteenth-century.

Late-19th Century Red Earthenware Vase Made in Newburyport, MA

Identified by the Family as Having Been Made by Hugh Robertson in the 1890

Hugh Robertson Owned the Merrimac Pottery Company

Stands 5 1/2" Tall

View of the Base

Next, is this pair of vases that were made by Frederick H. Norton in the 1940's. Honestly, I just learned of Norton's work about a week ago through this family, but I have quickly learned that he was an import twentieth-century potter in Massachusetts. All of the examples of Norton's work that I know of today are owned by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. I believe that these vases are equal to many of the vases that are owned by the museum.

Here is a link to some of the vases made by Norton that are owned by the MFA in Boston. You will see obvious differences between these vases and those that are owned by the museum.

Large 20th Century Painted Red Earthenware Vases with Decorative African Animals

Family Identified These as Products Made by F.H. Norton in Cambridge, Mass. in the 1940s

(Left) Stands 12 1/2" Tall

(Right) Stands 12 1/4" Tall

View of the Bases

This red earthenware flower pot was identified by the family as a product that was made by the traveling potter, John Donovan at the Lamson Pottery in Exeter, New Hampshire in the nineteenth-century.

19th Century Red Earthenware Flower Pot

Family Identified it as a Product from the Lamson Pottery in Exeter, NH

Family Says it May Have Been Made by John Donovan

Stands 4 1/4" Tall

View of the Interior

View of the Base

I also acquired this beautifully glazed red earthenware vase that also descended from Norton to this family. Unfortunately, I am not positive where this vase was made, but I believe it to be a product from a potter's business in the early twentieth-century, possibly somewhere along coastal Massachusetts.

20th Century Small Red Earthenware Vase with a Beautiful Glaze

Family Thought it was From the Early 20th Century

Stands 2 1/4" Tall

Another View of the Glaze

View of the Interior

View of the Base

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

A Rare Massachusetts-Made Red Earthenware Vase that was Acquired on Cape Cod Earlier Today

Arguably, the most famous of all the potter's businesses that operated in Peabody, Massachusetts in the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries was the shop that was located on Central Street, known as the Osborn Pottery. Generations of Osborn family members were employed at this business in the 1700's and the 1800's. Eventually, some of these potters branched out elsewhere in New England establishing their own businesses in New Hampshire - and, also, producing red earthenware for other established potters.

In the early-1860's, the Osborn Pottery was leased to a potter, who was employed at the pottery by the name of Joseph Reed (b. 1809). Reed eventually purchased the business in the mid-1860's. The wares made at the Reed Pottery were similar to that of which was made at the old Osborn business. The expected crocks, pots, jugs, pans and pitchers were all included in the regular output. Although, the face of this business began to slowly change in 1872, when Moses P. Paige came from Winthrop, Maine seeking employment.

According to Massachusetts author, Lura Woodside Watkins (Early New England Potters and Their Wares), "Four years later, Paige purchased the business."

The Moses Paige Pottery is a business that I am rather fascinated with today; however, I know very-little about this business. Flower pots are a well-documented product from the Paige Pottery, but I have always assumed that this was only a small sampling of the overall output that spanned well-into the twentieth century.

According to Watkins book, 'Early New England Potters and Their Wares,' "Perhaps the most famous craftsmen employed at the Paige Pottery was John Donovan, who was born in Exeter, New Hampshire in 1851 and died in 1932. He was a turner for nearly sixty years, having become a skilled potter at the age of fifteen. I once watched John Donovan at work making kitchen bowls. He was able to complete one in from two to three minutes. One by one they would be laid on the drying board. Donovan meantime chatting quietly with his visitors; the board would be carried away, and he would begin another round. Speed was an important consideration in producing utilitarian vessels, but it took phenomenal skill to make them of uniform shape at the same time. During Donovan's day the Paige Pottery sold commercially little herb pots with covers and a lip, almost identical to those made in the early days of potting. They were not made as reproductions, but in the ordinary course of events."

Earlier today, I visited a house on Cape Cod in East Sandwich, Massachusetts; the homeowner, sold me a red earthenware vase that was reportedly made by John Donovan at the Paige Pottery before 1932. He told me that he had acquired the vase from his grandfather, who was close friends with Emeritus F.H. Norton (1896-1992) before he died in 1992. Norton was a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but he was also a fourth generation potter. The man, who I purchased the vase from told me that most of Professor Norton's pottery collection was donated to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 1971, which also included examples of his work as a potter.

Professor Norton was a descendant of the famed Norton stoneware family in Massachusetts and Vermont in the nineteenth century. It is believed that most of the pottery that he had owned was acquired directly from local potters, who were employed in the early-to-mid-twentieth century. The man told me that it was very-likely that Professor Norton acquired the pieces owned by the MFA in Boston as brand new objects from the Paige Pottery. He also told me that I should really research the Boston Museum of Fine Art's Collection to compare their examples to my new vase.

It's not surprising to say that I was quite excited from this discussion seeing that so little information about the Paige Pottery is known today.

I found in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston that there are a few examples of pottery made at the Paige Pottery that do not correspond with what I know about this business today. Apparently, it seems that the Paige Pottery altered its appearance in the twentieth-century to include decorative vases. This makes complete sense, too considering how the presence of the New England potter's industry had changed from what it appeared like in the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries to a more decorative and artistic approach beginning in the 1870's - and, moving forward.

Below are the examples of Paige Pottery that the museum owns, which include a few rare stamped and dated pieces that bear Donovan's name.

Objects Owned by Museum of Fine Arts in Boston

20th Century Red Earthenware Vase Made at the Paige Pottery in Peabody, MA

Circa 1920

Possibly Made by John Donovan

Stands 6 3/4" Tall

Gift of Prof. Emeritus F.H. Norton in 1971

Photo Courtesy: Boston Museum of Fine Arts

20th Century Red Earthenware Jug Made by John Donovan at the Paige Pottery in Peabody, MA

Stamped on the Front, 'Made by J.J. Donovan 1930'

Stands 7 1/2" Tall

Gift of Prof. Emeritus F.H. Norton in 1971

Photo Courtesy: Boston Museum of Fine Arts

View of the Stamp

Photo Courtesy: Boston Museum of Fine Arts

20th Century Red Earthenware Pitcher Made by John Donovan at the Paige Pottery in Peabody, MA

Stamped on the Front, 'Made by J.J. Donovan 1930'

Stands 6" Tall

Gift of Prof. Emeritus F.H. Norton in 1971

Photo Courtesy: Boston Museum of Fine Arts

View of the Stamp

Photo Courtesy: Boston Museum of Fine Arts

20th Century Red Earthenware Jug Made by John Donovan at the Paige Pottery in Peabody, MA

Circa 1930

Stands 7 1/2" Tall

Gift of Prof. Emeritus F.H. Norton in 1971

Photo Courtesy: Boston Museum of Fine Arts

These following pieces are all owned by the Peabody, Massachusetts Historical Society; each example is related to the Paige Pottery in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. But some of these objects are also the result of Donovan's employment at the Paige Pottery, while others are the product of Paige or other potters, who Paige employed.

Objects Owned by Peabody, Mass. Historical Society