A Rare George Washington Pitcher Found at a Bottle Show in New Hampshire in 2014

It has been almost two-years since I wrote an article about my visit to the Keene, New Hampshire Bottle Show. I discovered a few objects at this annual show, which included an earthenware pitcher in the form of a bust of George Washington.

Until recently, I never knew where this object was manufactured, but I was certain that it was American-made; although, I always appreciated it for its appearance. Ultimately, I purchased the pitcher seeing I had never seen anything like it before - it appeared rare to me. Here is a link to the original article.

Just a few days ago, I posted images of this object on Facebook in celebration of July 4th since the pitcher is dated, 'July 4, 1903.' 

I had forgotten the history of this pitcher, but I had suggested on Facebook that the person, whom I had purchased it from said it was found in upstate New York. However, after reading the original article, again I realized the Washington pitcher was actually found in a home in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts.

Columbus, Ohio antiques dealer and collector, Andrew Richmond quickly recognized the object, and he told me that my Washington pitcher was made at the Starkey Pottery Company in East Liverpool, Ohio. He also told me that it is a rare and desired form to find today.

Both the Chipstone Foundation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the University of Richmond Museums in Richmond, Virginia own examples of this type of East Liverpool-made pitcher.

Surprisingly, I could not find any relevant auction results for related (or similar) objects that have sold in the past decade - and, that suggests (to me) how rare this form may be today.

According to the University of Richmond Museums, "Using the popular, and usually-humorous, 'Toby' jug (also known as a pitcher) that was produced in many different guises, this decorative vessel shows a stately and elegant bust of George Washington. He wears his traditional tricorn hat (here emblazoned with his name), and encircling his neck are thirteen stars, symbolizing the original thirteen colonies of the United States."

I find the jug that I discovered intriguing since these objects were reportedly made during the circa 1892-1901 period; however, "Washington, July 4, 1903" is written in gold on the pitcher that I discovered in New Hampshire in 2014.

Andrew Richmond commented on the date, "Given the date (Ohio granted statehood in 1803), the pitcher may have been made specially for the Ohio centennial celebration in 1903."

Washington Pitcher Owned by the University of Richmond Museums

Late-19th Century Earthenware Toby Jug in the Form of a Bust of George Washington

Made by the Starkey Pottery Company in East Liverpool, OH

Circa 1892-1901

Stands 9 1/4" Tall

Photo Courtesy: University of Richmond Museums - Richmond, VA

Washington Pitcher Found in New Hampshire in 2014

 Late-19th or Early 20th Century Earthenware Toby Jug in the Form of George Washington

Made by the Starkey Pottery Company in East Liverpool, OH

Form Reportedly Made Circa 1892-1901
However, This Object Was Likely Made For Ohio's Centennial Celebration in 1903

Stands 9 1/4" Tall

Reportedly Found in a House in Mattapoisett, MA

Purchased at the Keene, NH Bottle Show in 2014

 Another View of the Pitcher

View of Part of the Writing "Washington / July 4"

The Entire Writing Reads, "Washington /  July 4, 103"

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

The 47th Annual Keene, New Hampshire Bottle Show and Picking for EarlyPottery in New Hampshire

Yesterday marked the 47th annual gathering of the Keene, New Hampshire bottle show; a show that I attended in hopes that there would be an opportunity to purchase pottery that was recently discovered. For some reason, American-made utilitarian bottles and utilitarian pottery go hand-in-hand with many bottle shows; stoneware is often found at these types of shows - and occasionally so isn't red earthenware.

Location of the 47th Annual Keene, NH Bottle Show - Keene High School

This was Taken When I Arrived at 7:45am

I arrived at the show just before the early buyers were aloud in at 8:00am. When we were let in - I walked around quickly peering all-over the tables in search of what may be a hidden gem at the show; however I didn't see a whole lot. The show was loaded with all sorts of incredible glass - and even some stoneware, but nothing I had to have. I did see a nice pair of New England-made nineteenth-centuyr painted tin boxes for only $40 that eventually ended up on glass auctioneer, Norman Heckler's table, but I didn't have to have those either. Then I came across one of the finest slip decorated red earthenware strainers I have ever seen. The dealer told me he just found it in an attic in an upstate New York home. It was very cheaply priced - so I didn't hesitate to purchase it. The dealer told me he didn't know anything about red earthenware; although he was happy it was going to a collector (I will show pictures of this at another time).

 The Early Buyers Line Just Before 8:00am

 The Lobby to the Show

  The Lobby to the Show

 The 47th Annual Keene, NH Bottle Show

 The 47th Annual Keene, NH Bottle Show

 The 47th Annual Keene, NH Bottle Show

 The 47th Annual Keene, NH Bottle Show

 The 47th Annual Keene, NH Bottle Show

 Norman Heckler Auctions was at the Show - Woodstock Valley, Ct

 Glass Works Auctions was at the Show - Lambertville, NJ

American Glass Gallery Auctions was at the Show - New Hudson, Mi

Sample of the Red Earthenware and Stoneware at the Keene, NH Bottle Show

By 8:30am, I had seen just about everything the show had to offer. I wanted to pick my way through the shops in this part of New Hampshire as I traveled home - unfortunately it was Sunday and none of the shops were open until 10:00a - so I passed the time by chatting with some of the dealers in the room who I am friends with like Jeff and Holly Noordsy and Matt King.

Before I left, I did one last walk around the room - and surprisingly, a dealer had put out a piece of (red?) earthenware that was not out on the table when I initially walked around the room. This piece was also very fairly priced. I also purchased this piece. It is in the form of a molded George Washington head that is intended to be used as a pitcher. It is decorated in an Albany slip glaze (brown) with gold-leaf paint carefully placed.

The dealer told me it has a long history in an elderly woman's home in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, which is in Plymouth County not too far from New Bedford. She said she just recently purchased it directly out of the house. The pitcher was still covered in dirt and dust when I found it at the show.

 Albany Slip Glazed Molded (Red?) Earthenware Pitcher in the Form of George Washington's Head

Ca. 19th or Very Early 20th Century

Stands 9 3/4" Tall at the Highest Point

Purchased Yesterday at the Keene, NH Bottle Show

Originally Found in a Home in Mattapoisett, Ma

 View of the Side and the Handle

 View of the Interior

View of the Base

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

19th or Early 20th Century Black & Green Painted Red Earthenware FlowerPot

**I have learned the pot in this report is likely a Native American product from the nineteenth or twentieth-century. It is still an interesting comparison I make below to the Massachusetts potter, William Walley.**

----------

I recently purchased this red earthenware flower pot from an antique dealer in Essex, Massachusetts. Essex is located just north of Boston. This particular dealer only sells what he finds from homes within a twenty-five mile distance of Essex. He essentially cleans out homes, but sometimes does house-calls, too - where a homeowner calls him to see if he has any interest in items they own. He only specializes in antiques - typically no later than the Arts and Crafts Movement.

Late 19th or Early 20th Century Red Earthenware Flower Pot

Possibly from a Massachusetts Potter

Purchased in Essex County and Found in a Home Nearby

Very Unusual Green and Black Paint Decoration
Decoration Does Not Appear Amateaur

This is what I can definitively say about the flower pot:

1) It was hand turned by a potter.

2) It is a red earthenware product.

3) It was hand-painted with green and black colors.
4) The paint decoration does not appear amateur.
5) Green and black were both colors used by potters during the Arts and Crafts Movement - especially in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

6) The rim has been rolled inward inside the jar.

7) The flower pot feels late 19th or early 20th century.

8) It was found in a home in Eastern Massachusetts by a long-time antiques dealers.
9) The base is flat not like some mass-produced molded flower pots.
10) Its form is similar to some hanging nineteenth century earthenware flower pots made by industrial Massachusetts potters.

11) And, the drainage hole is not centered on the bottom - which may indicate there were many pots lined up and all had holes placed at once.

Hand-Pushed Drainage Hole on the Bottom of the Flower Pot

Red Earthenware Seen on the Interior

I quickly turned to Lura Woodside Watkins book, Early New England Potters and Their Wares for any information about Massachusetts earthenware potters who painted flower pots. She says a business run by Abner S. Wight and Richard Linley made earthenware flowers after 1875 in West Sterling, Massachusetts. She says they painted molded flower pots, which a past-worker recalled his experience to her while she researched her book before 1950. I have no actual proof of how all these painted wares appeared, but I did see a group of molded shards from the West Sterling operation as part of Watkins collection at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. The shards were completely different than how the flower pot of discussion was made. It seems flower pot production was an important product in West Sterling from the shards and actual examples seen in Watkins collection.

 Red Earthenware Molded Flower Pot Shard

Made in West Sterling, Ma

Ca. Late 19th Century

Lura Woodside Watkins Collection

Photo Courtesy: Smithsonian Institute, National Museum of Natural History - Washington, D.C.

  Red Earthenware Molded Flower Pot Shard that was Painted Red
An Attached Saucer is Seen

Made in West Sterling, Ma

Ca. Late 19th Century

Lura Woodside Watkins Collection

Photo Courtesy: Smithsonian Institute, National Museum of Natural History - Washington, D.C.

 Red Earthenware Molded Flower Pot Shard
Made in West Sterling, Ma
Ca. Late 19th Century

Lura Woodside Watkins Collection
Photo Courtesy: Smithsonian Institute, National Museum of Natural History - Washington, D.C.

Painted flower pots were also popular in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine, but many of those examples were manufactured as a traditional pot with an attached saucer at the base (see Buxton, Maine report for examples). Flower pots were really made all over the country from Virginia to Vermont, back to Massachusetts and in Western New York. It was a common product that has always been in demand even up through today.

The way the drainage hole was placed on this pot seemed different to me. It was not totally centered like a machine-made product would have appeared. Many of the nineteenth century Eastern Massachusetts potters who made flower pots even gave that special attention to a near-perfect hole placement. It's different in this case.

It seems like there may have been a large amount of these pots lined up and a worker went along punching holes. That may be why it is not perfectly centered on the base.

I own a bunch of nineteenth century flower pots with a similar approach, which Watkins attributed a comparable form in her collection to West Sterling, Massachusetts; however, it is very difficult to actually attribute such a simple form like these pots to any specific maker without a very strong provenience. Take a look at the simple flower pots I am referring to below.

 Late 19th or Early 20th Century Red Earthenware Flower Pots
Similar Form Attributed by Lura Woodside Watkins to West Sterling, Ma
Watkins Pots Also Show a Similar Drainage Hole

Similar Method of Applied Drainage Holes to Each Pot

The potter, William J. Walley eventually took over an earthenware business in West Sterling at the end of the nineteenth century. Walley was involved with the New England utilitarian stoneware business in the 1870s. He was employed at the F.B. Norton stoneware company in Worcester, Massachusetts - producing forms commonly associated with the stoneware industry of the late 1800s. Around 1890, he purchased the old Wachuset Pottery (owned by Marcus Snow and Henry Coolidge) about fifteen miles form Worcester. Wachuset Pottery was known for making red earthenware and other products. The company was the largest earthenware business in Central Massachusetts from its start in 1820. Clay was reportedly harvested from the local Stillwater River. Walley probably used the same clay source. Walley's company made flower pots and art ware with fancy glazes until his death in 1917. He was born in England before leaving for America. He probably trained their, too.  Walley's influences and inspiration was large from all the industries he was involved with. He also worked in parts of Canada and Ohio before arriving in Massachusetts. Ohio was known for its art pottery - and Walley was probably largely influenced from his experience in that state.

I own an example of Walley's finer glazed floral products as part of my collection. Its really interesting to see the paint colors applied on the flower pot next to the glaze colors used on one of Walley's red earthenware vases. They are very similar! Both show black and green colors. 

(Left) Green and Black Painted Red Earthenware Flower Pot

(Right) William J. Walley Red Earthenware Vase - West Sterling, Ma - Ca. 1895-1917

Greens were also used at Grueby Pottery in South Boston, Massachusetts - at Thomas Nickerson's Merrimac Pottery Company in Newburyport Massachusetts - and at Hampshire Pottery in Keene, New Hampshire - but, none of these Arts & Crafts businesses made hand-turned flower pots in this manner. Most drew inspiration as either art pottery, Old World Grecian wares or perfected floral products. Walley remained an art potter who produced simple utilitarian floral products.

I would have to see more flower pots with similar paint colors to feel strongly about a possible Walley attribution for this flower pot, but it is very interesting to see an actual example of Walley's work next to the pot. They both show comparable green and black decoration and the manner in which the drainage holes were placed on some known West Sterling flower pots is also similar. The idea behind both forms may also be related.

The vase on the right was glazed - while the pot on the left was hand-painted. Both also appear to be from the correct period. Its certainly an interesting idea! Its possible I will stumble upon more information about this flower pot in the future. 

Much More to Come...

19th Century Red Earthenware Bottle or Possibly Decanter Likely Made in New England

I have previously written about a red earthenware bottle on this website thought to have been made in northern New England, which appears to imitate an eighteenth century European onion bottle. But I have also written about other early glass forms that were also copied by American red earthenware potters during the period, such as molded salts and small dishes.

However, yesterday, I acquired the following nineteenth century red earthenware bottle or possibly even a decanter in a trade with a friend from Maine. Other than the elongated neck, it is thought that this red earthenware object imitates some of the blown-molded glass decanters manufactured in New England in the 1800s, like the example that I have posted below that was made in Keene, New Hampshire, circa 1825-1835.

It is not uncommon today to find nineteenth century potters occasionally imitated other brands in the marketplace, like glass products and imported ceramics. For example, I wrote about a circa 1795 red earthenware tea canister last weekend, which was made in Kentucky and was a known English form very-rarely found with American red earthenware production. Potters could have produced whatever they wished, but typically they only manufactured what would sell unless it was for personal use.

I believe this red earthenware bottle probably dates from the circa 1820-1850 period, and it was very possibly made in either Massachusetts or northern New England. But there are aspects about it that with more evidence could potentially suggest a central New Hampshire attribution.

Note: Click on the two links in the first paragraph of this article to see some more red earthenware objects imitating glassware from the period. Massachusetts author, Lura Woodside Watkins also illustrated a nineteenth century black-glazed red earthenware bottle in figure 66B in 'Early New England Potters and Their Wares' that she attributed to the Chesham region in southwestern New Hamsphire - this bottle is now owned by the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

Red Earthenware Bottle or Possibly Decanter

19th Century Red Earthenware Bottle that May Imitate a Glass Decanter

Likely Made in New England

Possibly Made in Massachusetts or Northern New England

Circa 1820-1850

Stands 9" Tall

(Bottom Left) 19th Century Blown-Molded Glass Decanter Attributed to Keene, NH

Blown-Molded GIII-16 Pint Decanter

Circa 1825-1835

Stands 6 3/4"

But These Type of  Decanters were Made in Larger Forms, As Well

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Jeffrey S. Evans and Associates - Mount Crawford, VA

Another View of the Bottle

See Article for More Information

View of the Interior

See Article for More Information

View of the Base

See Article for More Information

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

An Earthenware Portait Pitcher and the Lura Woodside Watkins Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston

Just recently the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston acquired a well-known longtime New England red earthenware collection, which I hope will eventually be on permanent display in the Art of the Americas Wing. The majority of the collection is made up of late-eighteenth and nineteenth century objects from southeastern Massachusetts and Connecticut. But there are select pieces from other regions in New England, as well.

I visited the MFA in Boston last week. There was no agenda. I walked around the museum's various wings admiring ancient-to-modern art from all over the world. But this earthenware portrait pitcher is an object that I have always admired, which was once owned by Marion, South Carolina collector Tony Shank. Its production has always reminded me of the George Washington earthenware pitchers that were made at the Starkey Pottery Company in East Liverpool, Ohio, circa 1892-1901; although, this pitcher dates from an earlier period.

According to the MFA, "Made around 1840 at an unknown pottery near Boston in Medford, Massachusetts, this pitcher is still being studied and provokes challenging conversations. It has been thought to be a posthumous depiction of Toussaint L'Ouverture (1743-1803), the former slave who led the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804), the first successful war for independence by enslaved people in the Americas. L'Ouverture never sat for a portrait in his own lifetime, but circulated prints mythologized him alternatively as a powerful hero and a ruthless war lord. The portrait's exaggerated facial features derive from stereotypical images of black people in early-nineteenth century popular culture."

Aside from the display at the MFA in Boston, the production of the few portrait pitchers known to exist in this style was a subject published in an article for the 2002 edition of Ceramics in America, entitled, "The Very Man of the Hour": The L'Ouverture Portrait Pitcher. The meaning and theory behind these pitchers were also discussed a few years ago at a presentation by Garrison Stradling at Historic Eastfield Village's ceramic conference in Nassau, New York.

Toussaint L'Ouverture Earthenware Portrait Pitcher at the MFA in Boston

19th Century Earthenware Portrait Pitcher Made in Medford, Mass.

Thought to be a Posthumous Depiction of Toussaint L'Ouverture

Marked on the Base "MEDFORD"

Circa 1840

Stands 10 1/8" Tall

Previously Owned by Marion, SC Collector Tony Shank
Displayed in the Art of the Americas Wing at the MFA in Boston

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Another View of the Pitcher

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Information on Display with the Pitcher

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Lura Woodside Watkins Collection at the MFA in Boston
Interestingly, it is known today that Massachusetts author Lura Woodside Watkins pottery collection published in 1950 in Early New England Potters and Their Wares was mostly acquired by the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., which includes the entirety of her archaeology collection. However, Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Massachusetts and Historical New England recently acquired the rest of the pottery collection, which had resided in the family's home in Middleton, Massachusetts. While most of  the published material was sent to the Smithsonian in the 1980s, it wasn't really known until recently that the Watkins family still owned some of the published objects.

But it is even lesser known today that Watkins also gifted a large collection of ceramics in 1987 to the MFA in Boston, some of which were also published in Early New England Potters and Their Wares. She may have even been inspired by M.I.T. professor, potter and collector Frederick H. Norton, who gifted much of his collection to the MFA in 1971. Those objects gifted by Watkins include:

1.  Parianware from Bennington, Vermont
2.  Earthenware from the United States Pottery Company also in Bennington,
3.  Ceramics from the Willets Manufacturing Company in Trenton, New Jersey
4.  Tiles from Low Art Tile Works in Chelsea, Massachusetts
5.  Art Pottery from the Chelsea Keramic Art Works also in Chelsea
6.  Art Pottery from the Chelsea Pottery U.S. also in Chelsea
7.  Art Pottery from the Marblehead Pottery in Marblehead, Massachusetts 
8.  Ceramics from the Phoenix Pottery in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania
9.  Art Pottery and Tiles from the William Grueby Pottery Company in Boston
10.  Art Pottery from the Hampshire Pottery in Keene, New Hampshire 
11.  Ceramics from William Boch and Brothers in Brooklyn, New York
12.  Art Pottery from the Rookwood Pottery in Cincinnati, Ohio
13.  Ceramics from Knowles, Taylor and Knowles in East Liverpool, Ohio
14.  Pottery from D.F. Haynes and Company in Baltimore, Maryland
15.  Earthenware from the American Pottery Company in Jersey City, New Jersey
16.  Stoneware from Gordy's Pottery in Greenville, Georgia
17.  Ceramics from Wannopee Pottery in New Milford, Connecticut
18.  Art Pottery from the Newcomb Pottery in New Orleans, Louisiana

Example of a Published Object at the MFA in Boston from Early New Potters and Their Wares

(Bottom Row Left) William Grueby Pottery Earthenware Vase, Boston

Displayed in the Art of the Americas Wing at the MFA in Boston

Circa 1899-1909

Stands 7" Tall

Gifted by Lura Woodside Watkins to the MFA in Boston in 1987

Published in Figure 136A in Early New England Potters and Their Wares

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Many of these objects are also currently on display in the museum's Art of the Americas Wing. However, there are two slip-decorated red earthenware objects in particular that were acquired by the MFA from Watkins, which are notable. Neither of these platters were published in Early New England Potters and Their Wares, suggesting that they were acquired by Watkins after 1950. I also don't believe a specific attribution has been proven for the platter on the right, but I believe the platter on the left was possibly manufactured at the industry in Norwalk, Connecticut, even though the museum suggests a Pennsylvania origin. Nevertheless, these are two of the finest examples of this type of production in existence today.

Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Platters at the MFA in Boston

19th Century Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Platters

Displayed in the Art of the Americas Wing at the MFA in Boston

Gifted to the Museum by Lura Woodside Watkins in 1987

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

19th Century Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Platter

Displayed in the Art of the Americas Wing at the MFA in Boston

Possibly Made in Norwalk, CT, Although the Museum Suggests a Pennsylvania Origin

Measures 14 1/4" in Length

Gifted to the Museum by Lura Woodside Watkins in 1987

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

19th Century Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Platter

Displayed in the Art of the Americas Wing at the MFA in Boston

Likely Made in the American Northeast, Although the Museum Suggests a Pennsylvania Origin

Measures 13 3/4" in Length

Gifted to the Museum by Lura Woodside Watkins in 1987

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

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

19th Century American Glass Products and Their Relationship to American Utilitarian Potters

Earlier this year, I was shown a matching pair of red earthenware cup plates that were an exact match to a pair made by the Boston Glass Company (Ca. 1840) in Boston, Massachusetts or the Sandwich Glass Company (Ca. 1840) on Cape Cod Massachusetts; however the form was also made by the Pittsburgh Glass Company (Ca. 1840) in Pennsylvania. Previously, I had never seen anything like it before. I didn't even really know what to make of them. I assumed they must have been made by a potter near a glass factory that produced the form - but my understanding of this subject changed drastically yesterday when  I visited the New Bedford Glass Museum in southern Massachusetts.

Sign for the New Bedford, Mass. Museum

The museum focuses mainly on glass products made in the nineteenth and twentieth-centuries in New Bedford; although there is also a large collection of important glass made elsewhere that highlights the skill of early glass makers all-over New England in states like Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut. Ancient products right up through the modern twentieth-century are represented in the museum. The museum houses a large collection of Sandwich and Boston-made glass, Keene (New Hampshire) glass, Stoddard (New Hampshire) glass and Coventry (Connecticut) glass - and then all the usual suspects from New Bedford like Pairpoint Glass and Mount Washington Glass. There is also European glass that is directly associated with New England products, Waterford Crystal products and so much more.

New Bedford, Ma Glass Museum

 New Bedford, Ma Glass Museum

 New Bedford, Ma Glass Museum

 New Bedford, Ma Glass Museum

New Bedford, Ma Glass Museum

 New Bedford, Ma Glass Museum

 New Bedford, Ma Glass Museum

 New Bedford, Ma Glass Museum

 New Bedford, Ma Glass Museum

 New Bedford, Ma Glass Museum

 New Bedford, Ma Glass Museum

 New Bedford, Ma Glass Museum

 New Bedford, Ma Glass Museum

 New Bedford, Ma Glass Museum

 New Bedford, Ma Glass Museum

 New Bedford, Ma Glass Museum

New Bedford, Ma Glass Museum

New Bedford, Ma Glass Museum

What really shocked me was when I saw a small nineteenth-century American-made red earthenware molded bowl in the museum; the curator told me that it was molded from an actual American-made glass product. He said it was one of only three known today.

 19th Century Red Earthenware Bowl Molded from an Actual American-Made Glass Product

 19th Century Red Earthenware Bowl Molded from an Actual American-Made Glass Product

  19th Century Red Earthenware Bowl Molded from an Actual American-Made Glass Product

Ca. 1840-1865

This is Only 1 of 3 Known in this Style

Potter is Not Known

 

Another View of the Interior

 Another View of the Interior

 Another View of the Interior

 View of the Side

View of the Base

According to the museum: The dish is in the "Horn of Plenty" pattern - a pattern that was popular with many pressed glass manufacturers in the nineteenth-century.

Seeing this bowl reminded me of the cup plates I saw earlier this year; I asked the curator what he thought about the idea of American red earthenware potters using glass as inspiration for their products - and he told me that he didn't feel it had anything to do with location; instead he felt it was merely a potter getting their hands on a glass product that was then used as a mold for a red earthenware product. He said it could be as simple as a Maine potter who found a piece of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) glass nearby their business. He told me that there is no real direct correlation that could be used with a specific glass product, glass maker or a glass business - and a local potter. He continued to tell me that glass traveled a lot back then. As our discussion continued, he told me that he is a graduate of the Winterthur (Delaware) fellowship program and in that museum's collection is a piece of stoneware that was impressed with a piece of glass for decoration. He even told me that he has seen nineteenth-century American-made glass bear figurals copied by potters into red earthenware products. He said they are copied exactly. It was a very productive museum visit.

After wrapping up my museum visit, I figured since I was already in New Bedford, which has a few antique shops - I decided to pick my way through the city's stores. And luckily, I did find a few nice pieces of pottery.

 New Bedford Demolition & Salvage & Antique Co-Op Shop

 New Bedford Antiques Shop

This is the Same Building the New Bedford Glass Museum is Kept

 Acushnet Antiques Shop - New Bedford, Ma

New Bedford Antiques at the Cove

I actually came across a great piece of Charles A. Lawrence Pottery made in Beverly, Massachusetts in a shop - unfortunately, the seller had the jar attributed to the William Grueby Pottery in South Boston, Massachusetts. It was also priced expensively like most Grueby products are today; however these two businesses couldn't be more worlds apart in the type of clays they used; Grueby's products were made of a white clay body and Lawrence's were made of a red clay body. And red clay could easily be seen through chipping and on the base of this jar in the shop. Grueby Pottery also never painted any of their products (like seen on this jar) - they were all glazed. Lawrence used both glaze (in a traditional utilitarian red earthenware manner glaze) and paint. I couldn't resist leaving a note telling the seller and prospective buyers what this jar actually was. I feel a product from Lawrence Pottery is much rarer than the dozens upon dozens and dozens more of forms of Grueby Pottery known today.

Ca. Lawrence Pottery Red Earthenware Jar - Beverly, Ma

Ca. 1870s or 1880s

Described as a William Grueby Product - South Boston, Ma

So…I Left a Sign Telling the Dealer and Prospective Buyers What the Jar Actually Is

Aside from this, I did very-well in New Bedford - I found a tremendous unmarked green glazed red earthenware pitcher in a vintage shop that I believe was made at the Merrimac Pottery Company in Newburyport, Massachusetts before 1904 (that's when an impressed stamp was incorporated on all products). It is similar to a jar I found in Salem, Massachusetts last week that I also believe is a Merrimac Pottery Company product.

Likely Merrimac Pottery Company Red Earthenware Green Glazed Pitcher - Newburyport, Ma

Probably Ca. 1897-1903

Found Yesterday in a Vintage Shop in New Bedford, Ma

Stands 6 1/2" Tall

 View of the Handle

 View of the Interior

 View of the Base

(Left) The Jar that was Found in Salem Last Week

Stands 5" Tall

It is Likely a Merrimac Pottery Company Product - Newburyport, Ma

Both Products Share a Similar Interior Glaze and a Similar Clay Color on the Base

I also found a wonderful painted red earthenware bird bath that I believe was made at Charles A. Lawrence's Pottery in Beverly in either the 1880s or the 1890s. It was found in the same store as the jar I previously described with the Grueby attribution. I have seen a similar paint scheme and incised line work on other pieces of Beverly pottery I already own. I am kind of puzzled on this piece; the base is flat, so I am unsure if the bowl was meant to be on top of a pedestal that is now lost or if it was only meant to rest on a flat surface. I am also not sure if this large bowl was strictly ornamental or if it was meant to be used in the yard. The seller had it simply described as a, "garden bowl."

 Likely 19th Century C.A. Lawrence Pottery Painted Red Earthenware Bowl - Beverly, Ma

Notice all the Incised Lines

Probably Ca. 1880s or 1890s

Found Yesterday in an Antique Shop in New Bedford, Ma for $17

Stands 4 5/8" Tall

 Interior View of the Bowl

Measures 13" Across

View of the Base

If you can notice in the picture below, a small amount of clay has been exposed around the inner rim - this is the expected clay color I have come to know as a Beverly product. The weight of the bowl also feels correct.

Exposed Clay Around the Inner Rim 

I think New Bedford is a pretty good city for picking antiques - like most places, it is completely hit or miss, but I have done pretty well there. I also highly suggest anyone who appreciates history, art and/or glass to check out the New Bedford Glass Museum. It's well worth the visit! 

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