The Quaker Hat Theory: A New Look at Bristol County Red Earthenware

While speaking a few weeks ago at the Berkshire County Historical Society at Herman Melville's Arrowhead in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, I had the pleasure of discussing my forthcoming eleventh book, A Monumental History: Stories of Red Earthenware Production in Western Massachusetts, the Berkshires, and Vermont.

During the talk, the subject of Quaker potters arose, specifically regarding red earthenware dishes from Bristol County, Massachusetts. I mentioned my theory that the slip-decorated triangles on these pieces may represent the region's faith. However, an audience member suggested an alternative: the triangles might actually represent the iconic Quaker hat. Now, whenever I look at these rare objects—including some of the presentation jars made by the Purinton family of Somerset, Massachusetts—that hat is all I can see.

Nonetheless, this new insight will be included in my forthcoming two-volume tenth book, An Early Industry of Household Wares: The Red Earthenware of Salem Village, Danvers, Peabody, Beverly and Salem, Massachusetts. The set will be available very soon, with Volume I spanning 1,003 pages and Volume II at 981 pages. I am absolutely thrilled with how this massive project turned out!

"...Another significant find from the Clark Junior site is a slip decorated red earthenware pan sherd that closely matches a small group of known Bristol County dishes. The geometric designs adorning these objects allowed Quaker artisans to masterfully balance aesthetic appeal with the Testimony of Plainness—the core sectarian principle of simplicity that has guided the Religious Society of Friends since the seventeenth century. Within this group, several surviving dishes feature slip decorated triangles, a motif that may deliberately and visually echo the iconic silhouette of the traditional, wide-brimmed tricorn or low-crowned Quaker hat worn during the colonial and early federal eras..."

For additional information - see my fifth book, 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/

18th or Early 19th Century Slip Decorated Red Earthenware Dishes

Likely Made in Bristol County, Massachusetts

Both Adorned with Triangles in Slip

The Triangle May Represent the Quaker Hat

See Article for More Information

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