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T
he red earthenware manufactured in Bristol
County, Massachusetts, in the 18th and 19th
centuries has been desired for at least a century
now by collectors, dealers, and museums. A combination
of factors have contributed to this infatuation, including
the refinement of the production, the color of the glazes,
and the history of the industry. Although these objects
can be romanticized today as works of art, they were
once viewed for their simple utilitarian purposes in the
household.
The area’s redware production first received
widespread published recognition in the early 1930s
with articles written for The Magazine Antiques by John
Ramsay and by noted Providence, Rhode Island, and
Cape Cod collector Charles D. Cook, whose collection
descended in his family until it sold in multiple highly
contested sales at Skinner in Boston in the early 2000s.
The highlight of the Cook collection was an incredible
late 18th- or early 19th-century red earthenware jar that
featured a person’s initials (“A.P.B.”) and a smaller jar
as the finial on the lid. This elegant jar graced the cover Shown above and below, part of the Hilary and Paulette Nolan collection Late 18th- or early 19th-century pitcher
of the October 1931 edition of The Magazine Antiques. of red earthenware, much of which is from southeastern Massachusetts. from southeastern Massachusetts. The
After this jar sold at Skinner for $63,000, it went on to be Photos courtesy Hilary and Paulette Nolan of Falmouth, Massachusetts. basic form began with an ovoid jar that
featured at the Winter Antiques Show in New York City. the potter converted into a pitcher.
It resides in a private collection today.
These articles may have also helped inspire Henry
Francis du Pont (1880-1969) with the collection he
assembled at Winterthur in Delaware in the 1920s and
1930s. That collection features some objects that are
very similar to what Cook published.
But even before this production was acknowledged in
publication, it had been coveted by early 20th-century
collectors, such Cook and Mr. and Mrs. William
Whitman Jr. from Cape Cod; some of their collection
was featured in an American antiques exhibit in Park
Square in Boston in 1925. This red earthenware must
have influenced author John Spargo, who later featured
some of the Whitmans’ collection in 1926 when Early
American Pottery and China was published.
Renowned New Hampshire antiques dealer Roger
Bacon was even selling red earthenware to Old
Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, as early
as the 1950s; this included pottery made in southeastern
Massachusetts. The objects he sold from Bristol County before and after the American Revolution.
were primarily slip-decorated dishes. Some of the pottery that survives from this area today has been Remarkable early 19th-century
commonly called “New Bedford” because of the amount of southeastern southeastern Massachusetts red
The aesthetic and artistic merit Massachusetts red earthenware that has been discovered in the city over earthenware jug. Photo courtesy Old
the past 100 years.
is what has attracted collectors Archaeologists and the Little Compton (Rhode Island) Historical
Sturbridge Village.
and museums for at a least Society have also proven that Rhode Island was a major export
opportunity, especially during the 1780-1820 period. Archaeological
a century now. evidence has been discovered throughout the state; for example, a few
years ago an archaeological dig at an 18th-century estate in Glocester,
The first major antiques collection to feature red Rhode Island, turned up at least five different glazed forms decorated
earthenware from this region at auction was likely the with green, black, and orange glazes, and the Little Compton Historical
landmark on-site sale of the Christopher Huntington Society owns a variety of objects that retain local histories of ownership
collection in Mount Vernon, Maine, on June 20 and 21, in Rhode Island.
1974. The stunning glazed forms included lidded jars, Southeastern Massachusetts red earthenware sherds were also discovered
pitchers, and harvest jugs. The collection of Oliver E. in 2009 by archaeologists from the University of Massachusetts Boston
Williams of Rockport, Massachusetts, that Richard within a 1750-1820 archaeological context at the site of the 17th-century
Withington sold in July 1966 was also noteworthy. Waite-Kirby-Potter House in Westport, Massachusetts. But the most
More recently, longtime Falmouth, Massachusetts, exciting examples of ownership are perhaps green-glazed sherds from this
antiques dealers Hilary and Paulette Nolan’s collection industry that were recovered by archaeologists in 2006 within a pre-1840
of red earthenware somewhat set precedent for how this context at the site of the 19th-century African Meeting House in Boston.
industry is currently viewed today. Their collection had According to Boston’s Museum of African American History, “The
been assembled over roughly 30 years before it was sold African Meeting House on Beacon Hill was built in 1806 in what was
at Northeast Auctions in Manchester, New Hampshire, once the heart of Boston’s 19th century free black community.... The
on August 8, 2004. The context, history, and passion it Meeting House was host to giants in the Abolitionist Movement who
took to assemble this collection was marvelous; many were responsible for monumental historical events that changed this
of the objects retained early histories of ownership from nation.” The sherds were recovered within such a context that they Late 18th- or early 19th-century red
homeowners and dealers in southeastern Massachusetts, may have belonged to the site when the meeting house was used for the earthenware jar from southeastern
Cape Cod, and Rhode Island. founding in 1832 of the New England Anti-Slavery Society by William Massachusetts that has a history of
The Industry in Southeastern Massachusetts Lloyd Garrison (1805-1879) and for the 1833 farewell address of Maria ownership in Rhode Island. Photo
courtesy Little Compton Historical
The industry in southeastern Massachusetts was Stewart (1803-1879), a black woman and the first American woman
Society.
established decades before the American Revolution known to have spoken publicly before a mixed audience of black and
by Quakers and was intertwined with the pottery white men and women.
industry in South Danvers (today known as Peabody), However, the potters were not the only persons responsible for peddling they were found in Rhode Island. But
Massachusetts. The most prominent businesses were the wares from this industry. Winterthur’s library contains a 1757-66 according to what is known today most of
operated by the Boyce and Shove families in Berkley, account book kept by Preserved Peirce (1736-1798), a merchant from these objects are actually from the 18th-
Massachusetts, and the Chace and Purinton families in Swansea, Massachusetts, who traded along the coast of Rhode Island and and early 19th-century pottery industry in
Somerset, Massachusetts. Overall, there were dozens Connecticut. He sold wooden and pewter goods, pottery, and tools for southeastern Massachusetts.
of potters involved with this industry, but there were craftsmen and potters. The account book reveals that he purchased red Massachusetts author Lura Woodside
also lesser-known individuals, who likely included earthenware from potters John Law, Caleb Purinton, and Isaac Upton. Watkins also cited a post-American
apprentices and traveling potters. Isaac and his brother Samuel Upton were potters likely employed in Revolution account book from Peirce
Similar to the businesses in Danvers/Peabody, where Berkley in the 1760s when they interacted with Peirce. They later went when she published Early New England
the industry was located near its major market in Salem, on to build a business in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, 1771-83, for Potters and Their Wares in 1950. Watkins
Massachusetts, the industry in Bristol County was which they have garnered some fame today. Unfortunately, some early wrote that Preserved Peirce “owned a sloop
strategically located near New Bedford, Massachusetts, published articles have attributed a number of objects, many of which called the Rosemary, in which he sailed
and Rhode Island. These were both major marketplaces are green glazed, to the business in East Greenwich as a result of where up and down Mt. Hope Bay and along
32-B Maine Antique Digest, June 2018
Noreen 33-B
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Jar from southeastern Massachusetts in a Late 18th- or early Eighteenth- or early 19th-century slip-decorated red
highly unusual form. The shape may have 19th-century jar earthenware pan from southeastern Massachusetts
helped make pouring the contents easier. from southeastern that has a history of ownership in Rhode Island.
Photo courtesy Old Sturbridge Village. Massachusetts. Photo courtesy Little Compton Historical Society.
Late 18th- or early 19th-century red Late 18th- or early 19th-century red
earthenware jar from southeastern Examples of the green-glazed forms that were produced in southeastern earthenware jar from southeastern
Massachusetts with a highly sought-after glaze. Massachusetts in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Massachusetts that has a history of
Ex-Lewis Scranton collection, Killingworth, ownership in Rhode Island. Photo courtesy
Connecticut. Photo courtesy a private Little Compton Historical Society.
Massachusetts collection.