Rare glazed red earthenware coffee or chocolate pot Southeastern Pennsylvania, 1800-1840

Together with a pitcher, artist unidentified, c.1830-1860, glazed red earthenware; a large covered bowl with handles with sponges and seaweed decoration, artist unidentified, c.1820-1850, glazed red earthenware; and a small covered bowl with handles with sponges and seaweed decoration, artist unidentified, c. 1820-1850, glazed red earthenware. 4 pieces.

Coffee or Chocolate Pot:
Elie Nadelman, New York
George Horace Lorimer, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Bernard and S. Dean Levy, New York, 1978

Pitcher:
Katharine Prentis Murphy, Westbrook, Connecticut
O. Rundle Gilbert Auction at Candle Light Farm, Westbrook, Connecticut, "Murphy Estate," September 1967, lot 601

Large Bowl:
Sam Yeagley, Annville, Pennsylvania, 1972

Small Bowl:
Ed and Mildred Bohne, Newmanstown, Pennsyvlania, 1978

Coffee or Chocolate Pot:
On loan to IBM from the George Horace Lorimer Collection, c. 1942-1977

Pitcher:
On loan to New-York Historical Society from Katharine Prentis Murphy, prior to 1967

 

American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum, p. 133, figs. 93A-D

93A: Chocolate pot- abrasions to rim glaze; old chips to lid; glaze loss to finial; old chips on base 93B: Pitcher- old (oxidized) base chips; abrasions on rim of neck; glaze on body slightly cloudy 93C: Large Bowl with Cover- long crack in bowl from under handle to rim; cover has small crack 93D: Bowl with old (oxidized) rim chip, lid with loss to glaze on rim
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Traditional redware potters in Pennsylvania used a variety of glazing materials and methods and regularly experimented with new techniques that would expand the range of wares they could produce and supply to local markets. Liquefied clays, or slips, were made from naturally occurring white or yellow clays or colored with different mineral oxides. These slips and oxide colorants could be applied by dipping, painting, sponging, or "trailing" the material on the undecorated form with the use of a spouted slip cup (see cat. no. 96b). The most successful potters possessed a knowledge of these mineral-based colorants, their interactions with the clays used in the wares, and the different effects temperature and kiln atmosphere had on their resulting color and glaze character. A number of innovative decorating techniques entered the shops of locally trained potters through the arrival of foreign-trained apprentices familiar with English or Continental production methods; some were developed by local potters through experimentation in an attempt to produce decorative wares to rival popular imported ceramics.

The forms and decoration of this group of locally produced earthenwares were inspired by popular imported English mochawares and agatewares. Beginning in the early 1780s, these refined, decorative tablewares—thinly potted or molded from white earthenware, creamware, and pearlware clay bodies—were imported by a number of Philadelphia merchants. Their naturalistic veined and patterned seaweed-like slip decoration, mottled, colorful glazes, and refined shapes proved to be a popular, affordable alternative to the rarer and more expensive imported porcelains. Shopkeepers and overland traders from the smaller satellite townships and villages surrounding Philadelphia regularly brought these and other imported ceramics into the Pennsylvania German and Scotch-Irish farming communities, where their affordability, novelty, and decorative appeal found a ready market among middle-class households.

Few local potters succeeded in the production of these technically complex glazes.¹ The iron-rich red clays of Pennsylvania differed from the refined light-yellow and white clays used in England, and impurities affected the final colors of glazes. The lead- and silica-based glazes applied by most Pennsylvania potters were unpredictable and prone to irregular or excessive running when fired. Through experimentation with these local materials, however, some potters developed a thick yellow or white clay slip to which ground feldspar and tin were added. When dried, its surface approximated the lighter, finer quality of the imported wares. A thin "tea" of turpentine, urine, tobacco juice, and metal oxides was applied in heavy splotches near the base of the forms. Copper oxides produced green, while manganese oxide turned an iridescent brown. The forms sat upside down in the kiln during firing, and as the heavy slip and colorant tea mixtures interacted and melted, they flowed downward, producing veined, seaweed-like patterns.² Still, this formula and technique were subject to the wide variations of clay and kiln, as the less distinct, blurred patterning of the coffee or chocolate pot in this group suggests. -J.L.L.

¹ The only signed examples from Pennsylvania of which I am aware were produced by John Bell of Waynesboro, Pa.
² The formula for the tea glazes followed known English and may have been gained through published sources or from immigrant potters in the region; see Geoffrey A. Godden, British Pottery: An Illustrated Guide (London: Barrie and Jenkins, 1974), for similar lists of glaze components.