As I noted in a post from earlier this week, titled, A Type of Red Earthenware Jar Made in Bristol County, Massachusetts in the Late 18th and Early 19th Century: "..There has been a lot of speculation through the years that a type of jar from Bristol County appears to have been inspired by Asian production, perhaps based on wares imported into New Bedford, Massachusetts, as part of the area's China Trade. This is the same trade that is well-known from the Salem, Massachusetts area today, circa eighteenth and nineteenth century..."
Nonetheless, for some time now, I have suspected that the green glazed red earthenware produced in Bristol County may have also been inspired by the China Trade. There is no definitive proof of it, but this area's green glazed wares were by far the most prolific in New England, perhaps followed by the green glazes produced by the Bradford family in Kingston, Massachusetts and possibly Cape Cod, as well as some of the red earthenware manufactured by the Dodge family in Portland, Maine in the nineteenth century, which was another maritime community involved with the China Trade. There were other areas, as well in New England, but not all were associated with the coast.
Green glazes have a long history in China having been produced through a number of the dynasties, including Han, Six, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing. Celadon inspired glazes were also used on stoneware manufactured in the American South in the nineteenth century, particularly in South Carolina with enslaved African American potters before 1865, as well as the John Bell Pottery in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania in the 1800s.
However, because the tradition of green glazes never broke in China, the color was continuously used for various types of storage jars even when fashions or styles changed elsewhere in the world. These types of green glazes were also likely involved with the China Trade in America, which began after 1784. But they were likely not shipped as luxury objects, although they may have been used as shipping containers. After their original use was no longer needed like exporting ginger and tea to the west, some of the large jars were then repurposed in the nineteenth century as decorative items in gardens, halls, etc. in some of the popular port cities in America, such as Boston, Salem, New Bedford and New York City, etc.
These Chinese jars were also likely visible during the China Trade in the homes and warehouses owned by merchants in places like coastal Massachusetts so there may have been a curiosity factor to these objects when seen around the cities. In theory, some of the local potters may have studied these forms and adapted some of the shapes and glazes to their production, which may have taken place with some of the Quaker potters in Bristol County in the late eighteenth and nineteenth century.
Note: Most of this information will be included in my forthcoming two-volume, tenth book, titled, An Early Industry of Household Wares: The Red Earthenware of Salem Village, Danvers, Peabody, Beverly and Salem, Massachusetts: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2026/01/update-on-new-book-forthcoming-two.html.
In the meantime - for more information - see my fifth book, titled, A Celebrated Industry: The Historic Wares of Southeastern Massachusetts, Bristol County and Cape Cod: https://historicbeverly.net/product/a-celebrated-industry-the-historic-wares-of-southeastern-massachusetts-bristol-county-and-cape-cod/.
Green Glazed Red Earthenware Produced in Bristol County, Mass.
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