| Sunderland luster ware | Apr. 21st, 2006 @ 05:19 pm |
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An anonymous comment on the pink luster bone china saucer post below
http://www.greatestjournal.com/community/potterynews/27930.html
identified the saucer as Sunderland lustre ware 1840. The saucer is luster, and it is pink, but the bone china body, the painted pattern, the subject, and the date are not at all consistent with Sunderland luster ware. Here's why.
The bone china pink luster saucer looks like this:
An example of Sunderland luster ware from the flea market is this master pedestalled salt, height 2 inches.
( +2 Sunderland luster salt photos and more explanation )
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| Japanese-style smear glaze pitcher | Jan. 2nd, 2006 @ 10:22 am |
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This buff color smear glaze pitcher has a Japanese style shape that indicates a late 19th-century (1870s-1880s) date. The pitcher has a bamboo-shape handle and embossed bamboo and bird decoration. It is 7 5/8 inches high and unmarked, but very likely English made.
( closeup of shape/pattern )
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| English Bone China Luster Painted Saucer, House Pattern | Oct. 14th, 2005 @ 04:03 pm |
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This luster painted saucer has a band at the rim and a line surrounding the landscape view. The pattern shows two buildings and an odd fence instead of the more common Chinese house and fence pattern found on China Glaze or pearlware.1 I paid $10 for it at the flea market.
The body is a white bone china. Josiah Spode's success with a white bone china at the turn of the 19th century2 was copied by many English potters. Bone china dates to 1794, and luster decoration on white earthenwares (primarily pearlware and whiteware) from 1790 to 1840.3 The unmarked saucer probably dates to the first one-third of the 19th century. The saucer is 5 1/2 inches in diameter.
( + 2 photos )
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| English shell edge sauce tureen and tray, ca. 1775-1800 | Oct. 13th, 2005 @ 03:53 pm |
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My husband bought this English green shell edge pearlware sauce tureen and tray at a yard sale. The town where it was bought was founded in 1905, some 100 years after this piece was made.
"Edged" was the most common potters' term for what was called "shell edge" in Wedgwood's 1775 pattern book and in Leeds' pattern book of 1783. Edged wares were generally limited to flat wares, sauce boats, tureens, and butter boats. They were the cheapest decorated tableware available for most of the 19th century.1 Please note that edged and shell edge are correct terms for this type of ware. Feather edge refers to a specific, tightly dated edged shape and is not a correct term for these wares in general. Beautiful photographs of shell edge plates with painted centers are in an article in the 2001 Ceramics in America.2
The tureen is 3 1/4 inches high and 5 1/4 inches long x 3 3/4 inches wide. The shell edge type is asymmetrical undulating scallop with impressed curved lines, ca. 1775-ca. 18003. The edging on the tureen shows the wavy rococo edge particularly well. The edges on the tureen base and tray are necessarily a little more subdued (or projections at the edge would be prone to breakage).
( 2 photos of the tray )
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| Adams Rose and "Persian" Painted English Wares | May. 31st, 2005 @ 06:30 am |
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William & Thomas Adams
Manufacturers of General Earthenware, Granite, &c., &c., Tunstall, Staffordshire.
Cream colour, I hail, Blue Edge, ditto Green;
Sponge, too, Dinner Plates, Soup Tureen;
White Iron-Stone-China, lovely in form,
Dinners, Toilets in ditto, that must ever charm;
. . .
Sponge, and Dipt, all around about the shelves
Are rare designs, peculiar to themselves;
And so popular, that every flood doth toss,
Or at the Line, or under the Southern Cross,
In exultation: 'nd those celestial Madams,
Ye Nine Muses, more brightly glow thro' th' House of Adams.
Sponge, cut to designs--here was Art's sunlit banner unfurl'd
By the eminent House of Adams, who supply the world.
. . .
Their Sponge, so good, I could not tell't from Painted!
If not all Creation, they supply at least
The entire Southern World, and the East.
. . .
James T. S. Lidstone, The 13th Londoniad: Giving a full description of the Principal Establishments, &c. in the Potteries, being the continuation of an university great prize poem on the arts . . . (Staffordshire: self published, 1866; original in Horace Banks Reference Library, Hanley, Local Pamphlets vol. 6), pp. 81-82.
This painted plate dates to 1834-36 based on its impressed Henderson Walton & Co. New Orleans importer's mark.
(See earlier post on Henderson importers of New Orleans)
http://www.greatestjournal.com/community/potterynews/12975.html
The pattern covers most of the plate's surface, in contrast to sprig floral patterns. The name for this bold painting style in bright colors was Persian painted, a term used in potters' price lists, invoices, and correspondence dating from the 1830s through 1860s.
A few weeks ago I bought an unmarked bold painted plate. The undeniably bold decoration in four colors covers most of the plate's surface.
( 14 more photos )
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| Trenton Pots 1: English Bone China Saucer, Cornflower Pattern | Feb. 6th, 2005 @ 05:12 pm |
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The first antique ceramic piece in my collection. Up to that point I had resisted collecting ceramics, saying that I didn't have the money.
( more on the cornflower saucer )
Although my first piece was British, I soon began focusing on Trenton wares, which tended to be cheap and abundant, having been made locally. Soon I was going to the flea market every week, finding Maddock and Scammell hotelwares and diner wares from the early 20th century and Trenton toiletwares (wash sets used before indoor plumbing was available) from the 1860s to early 1900s. I focused, not on the high-end Lenox tablewares but the low-end wares found in archaeological sites.
NEXT: a Trenton pot: a Burroughs & Mountford love letter plate from the 1880s
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| Minton, Hollins & Co. tile | Oct. 3rd, 2004 @ 02:55 pm |
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Minton, Hollins & Co. Patent Tile Works, Stoke-on-Trent
1868-present
Registration No. 8377
Initials EWB
Registration No. indicates that this tile from a private collection was patented in 1884.
( impressed tile mark also would aid adhesion )
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| Merchant Marks 2. Henderson Importers of New Orleans | Aug. 10th, 2004 @ 08:47 pm |
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Introduction
My expectations weren't high when I asked a dealer at my local flea market to see the stained and cracked painted plate that he had taken off display and put in the back of his car. But the impressed “HENDERSON WALTON & Co./ IMPORTERS/ NEW ORLEANS” mark got me very excited since this partnership lasted only from 1834-1836, and this was the first impressed Henderson mark I'd seen, as well as the first painted piece with a Henderson mark. I gave the dealer $20.00 for the plate.
Feedback from earlier versions of this article posted here demonstrated that this was neither the first impressed Henderson, Walton & Co. mark recorded nor the first of these marks on a painted piece. Rather, this piece and two others show the variety of painted wares available in the mid-1830s American market, ranging from earth-tone colors on pearlware to chrome colors on whiteware, with both designs painted in bold Persian styles as well as in fine sprig styles, with simple floral designs on pearlware falling between these extremes.
Hill and Henderson and their successor companies were earthenware importers in business in New Orleans from the 1820s into the 1860s. Their primary business was as importers and wholesale dealers in earthenware, glass, and china for the country trade, supplying crates of assorted wares for country stores all over the South and Midwest, although there is evidence of retail stores as well (Black and Brandimarte 1987: 1-3). They have been the subject of study by archaeologists and collectors because a fair number of vessels have been found that have printed or impressed importer's marks with their names (Black and Brandimarte 1987; Stewart-Abernathy 1988; and Lockett and Godden 1989). Marks from the New Orleans importer Hill & Henderson and successor companies have been found on archaeological sites in Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, and California (Black and Brandimarte 1987; Lockett and Godden 1989; Stewart-Abernathy 1988).
Archaeologist Art Black and historian Cindy Brandimarte (1987) collaborated on "Henderson & Gaines, New Orleans Ceramics Importers," which provided important details on this firm and its ceramic marks. Their significant contributions include the dates of operation and street addresses for the various partnerships from city directories and other sources, a summary of the types of ceramics found with Henderson importer's marks and illustrations of the marks, and the conclusion that this company apparently had a importing agreement with the Davenport factory of Staffordshire, based on the number of patterns by this maker with Henderson marks.
The Henderson firm may not have been the largest New Orleans ceramics importer of the early 19th century, being only one of as many as two dozen importers and wholesalers in the city. This company's significance to modern researchers and collectors is that its long-lived history has been documented, and, unlike most of its competitors, its imported wares are marked. These marks can in turn be used to date the pots on which they occur. The distribution of these marks from archaeological sites also provides information on the territorial reach of New Orleans.
History of Hill and Henderson and Successor Companies
The three Henderson importer partnerships that marked their wares are Hill & Henderson; Henderson, Walton & Co., and Henderson & Gaines. These partnerships cover the years 1822-1866; the succeeding firm is not known to have marked its wares.
Hill & Henderson (HH, 1822-1834)
Hill & Henderson dates of 1822-1834 are based on New Orleans city directories (Black and Brandimarte 1987: 1). Portions of New Orleans city directories now are online at
http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/la/orleans/history/directory
Henderson, Walton & Co. (HW, 1834-1836)
Strangely enough, the partnership of Henderson, Walton and Co. is not listed in the New Orleans City directories that continued to list Hill and Henderson through the 1835 directory (Black and Brandimarte 1987: Fig. 4). The lack of directories for 1836 and 1837 may account for Henderson, Walton & Co. not being listed. By the time the next directory came out in 1838, the partnership was listed as Henderson and Gaines. This evidence points to a short term partnership that probably began in 1834 and was over by 1838.
What is known about them comes from two invoices to country merchants, one dated April 10, 1834, and one dated June 30, 1835, and the printed mark that is identical to the later Henderson and Gaines mark except for the company name (Black and Brandimarte 1987:2-5). A Davenport piece with an 1836 year mark and a Henderson and Gaines mark suggests that the partnership may have begun by then; however, there is evidence of Davenport continuing to use date stamps for a couple of years as there are many more date marks that end in even years, particularly 1836 and 1844, than odd years (Miller 1998: 4).
Henderson & Gaines (HG, 1836-1866)
City directories provide the 1836-1866 dates for the main partnership that has left its mark on Davenport ceramics. An antebellum trade card lists Henderson & Gaines as importers and wholesale and retail dealers at 45 Canal Street, supplying "crates repacked to order" for the country trade (Black and Brandimarte 1987: 4). Information from Texas Republic (1836-45) era military records and census records suggests the nature of the business and family relationships between the partners.
Gaines & Relf (1867-1877)
City directory information documents this successor to the Henderson partnerships. Partner Stephen Relf had joined Henderson & Gaines in 1850 and probably ran the business while John Gaines served as president in various ancillary businesses. The importer's business finally ended in 1877, some 55 years after it began. A probable Gaines & Relf mark has been recovered from archaeological work in Louisiana and is described in the next section.
In brief, here are the various partnerships and their dates of business (Black and Brandimarte 1987).
( table, Henderson partnerships )
Henderson Importer Marks
Prior to the last quarter of the nineteenth century, importer marks are rather rare, and they are not that common after that period. Kowalsky and Kowalsky (1999) compiled a list of 70 importers known to have their marks on ceramics that sheds some light on how rare these marks are. They were concentrated in New York (21 importers), Boston (8 importers ) and Philadelphia (8 importers). These importers accounted for almost 52% of those known to have their company name on vessels. The other 47 known importers are distributed among 33 cities (Kowalsky & Kowalsky 1999: 658-660). In the deep south, only Charleston, South Carolina, and New Orleans are listed as having importers' marks on ceramics. (Additional importers' marks provided by readers of earlier versions of this article are listed at the end of this post.) Thus, it can be seen just how fortunate it was for researchers that a sequence of New Orleans importers had their name placed on wares from a very early period.
Impressed Henderson marks have been found on undecorated and minimally decorated ceramics such as white ironstone and green and blue shell edge vessels. These marks seem to consist of simply the company name without location or other identifiers (Black and Brandimarte 1987: 8). For example, a blue shell edged twiffler (ca. 8 inch plate) marked Henderson Walton & Co./Importers/New Orleans with a Davenport anchor mark was found in a wealthy Indian burial in Oklahoma (Wilson 1968: 78). This appears to be an even scalloped shell edge pattern dating 1800-1835, so that the Henderson, Walton & Co. mark dates it to the end of this period.
Davenport is the only known potter using Henderson marks on its wares. Henderson marks also occur, however, on ceramics without makers' marks. A notable example is Millenium, a popular pattern made by Ralph Stevenson & Son and others in the early 1830s. The platter without maker's mark below may have been made by a maker other than Davenport.
( Millenium pattern )
Another example is the unidentified transfer-printed jug with river landscape pattern with floral and bird border reported (but not pictured) online by Wotton Auction Rooms, Gloucestershire.
http://www.wottonauctionrooms.co.uk/catalog/2001/cat_full.shtml
Hill and Henderson may have become an American agent for Davenport in the early 1830s. Although there are no surviving Davenport records (Lockett 1972: 7) for most of this period, marks on antique pieces and on archaeological fragments provide ample evidence of this business relationship. The earliest importer marks on Davenport ceramics are by Hill & Henderson, in business from 1822-1834 and thus dating to the early years of the business relationship. The latest datable Davenport/Henderson piece from excavation has an impressed registration mark dating 1853, which may indicate that the arrangement lasted at least until the mid-1850s.
Combined Davenport and Henderson & Gaines Royal Coat of Arms printed mark on undecorated whiteware
IRONSTONE
DAVENPORT
MANUFACTURED FOR
HENDERSON & GAINES
45 CANAL ST
NEW ORLEANS
Commonwealth Convention Center expansion site (Stottman n.d.), courtesy Jay Stottman, Kentucky Archaeological Survey, Louisville, Ky.
This mark is rather unusual in that it includes maker and importer in a single mark. The Davenport portion of the mark is KAD mark no. B702 in Kowalsky and Kowalsky (1999: 168).
When no Gaines & Relf marks were known, the relationship was thought to have ended before 1867, possibly terminated by the Civil War (Black and Brandimarte 1987: 8), which disrupted much of the commerce between southern merchants and Europe.
The recovery of a probable Gaines & Relf (the first partner's name is missing) printed mark fragment recovered from archaeological work in Louisiana by Coastal Environments, Inc. (Ryan et al. 2003: 112, 115), however, indicates that the relationship continued into the post-Civil War period. This printed mark is identical to the Henderson & Gaines mark from Louisville, Ky. except for the partners' names. The Royal Coat of Arms lion and unicorn occur above the words [IRON]STONE/ [DAVEN]PORT/ [MANUFACT]URED FOR/ [GAINES] & RELF/ . . . [CA]NAL ST./ [NEW O]RLEANS. The Canal Street address may indicate a date in the periods 1866-1870 or 1877, during which times the Gaines & Relf partnership was at 100 Canal Street, or possibly may be a holdover from a Henderson & Gaines mark in which the partners' names were changed but not the firm's address. The reverse side of the fragment was undecorated and probably was from a white granite or white ironstone piece, although it could have been from a ceramic with minimal decoration, such as a shell edge plate.
Gaines & Relf mark fragment on undecorated whiteware
 Star Hill Plantation Main House site (16WF101), West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana (Ryan et al. 2003: Fig. 6-34a); courtesy Sara Hahn and Coastal Environments, Inc., Baton Rouge
Leslie (Skip) Stewart-Abernathy's (2002) archaeological work at a merchant's residence in Washington, Arkansas, recovered Davenport pottery (and fragments with no maker's mark) with Henderson, Walton & Co. and Henderson & Gaines importer marks, as well as date marks from the 1830s through 1850s.
The 19th century Henderson importer's companies of New Orleans were the first merchant marks that I encountered when Art Black, Cindy Brandimarte, Dan Crouch, Marybeth Tomka, Cynthia Banks, and others at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department showed me archaeological fragments with Henderson marks from excavations on state park lands on the Brazos River and elsewhere. These importer marks were again important when I worked for Prewitt & Associates and with the Brazosport Archaeological Society (BAS) on the 1830s townsite of Velasco at the mouth of the Brazos River. This site, which flourished between 1833 and 1842, was the site of the first battle for Texas independence at Fort Velasco and served briefly as the seat of government for the Republic of Texas. Archaeological work produced a rich collection of English transfer printed wares (among many others) that are maintained by the BAS as a study collection and are published in Pollan et al. (1996). The site's occupation dates fortuitously coincide at least partially with the time spans of all three Henderson partnerships that marked their wares. Additional information from the site across the river at Quintana has been published in Blake and Freeman (1998). The archaeological information may be supplemented by comparative examples that BAS members have collected from antiques dealers over the years, as well as historical work done in local newspaper and other archives.
It should be noted that sometimes the marks contradict the archival information. Based on the city directories, the inclusion of the 45 Canal Street address in the Henderson & Gaines mark should date similarly marked ceramics to the period of ca. 1842-1852 (Black and Brandimarte 1987: 5). However, a transfer-printed Scotts Illustrations/Waverley pattern plate and a transfer-printed Scotts Illustrations/Bride of Lammermoor platter (among other recorded examples), both have the 45 Canal Street address in their Henderson & Gaines marks as well as impressed 1836 Davenport anchor marks.
( Scotts Illustrations patterns with 1836 anchor dates )
Gaps in the city directories are one source of the contradiction. There are no known directories between 1838, when Henderson & Gaines is listed at the 14 Canal Street address, and 1842, the first date listing the 45 Canal Street address (Black and Brandimarte 1987: 5). Street numbers also were still rather fluid in the early 19th century. Does the fluctuation among 4, 12, and 14 Canal Street addresses for Hill & Henderson and among 45 and 48 Canal Street for Henderson & Gaines reflect physical moves of their store or changes in the city street numbers?
On the other hand, the Davenport anchor mark numbers do not appear to always reflect actual year of manufacture. As George mentioned in the Henderson, Walton & Co. section above, the anchor marks may have continued in use for a few years. This conclusion is based on Davenport anchor marks recorded by Miller (1998), Perttula (1998), and Riordan (1999) and reported in the Victorian Ceramics Group Newsletter (predecessor to this weblog).
The good news is that the recorded vessel shapes and decorations in a sample of 45 pieces appear consistent with the anchor dates, and four white granite vessels with registration marks date either a year or two before or the same date as the anchor mark (Miller 1998: 4). What raises questions are the strong tendency for anchor mark dates to be even (90% of the sample of 84 pieces), and high frequencies of certain dates (e.g., 1836 and 1844; Miller 1998: 4). Tim Riordan (1999) found a 4-year cycle in the data, with all years having 5 or more examples being 4 years apart. The years 1836, 1844, 1848, 1852, 1856, and 1860 account for 85% of the sample, with 1840 (only 2 marks) the exception. The Davenport anchor date marks seem to represent a 4-year time period during which the vessel could have been made (Riordan 1999: 4).
Painted Patterns with Henderson Marks
( Henderson, Walton & Co. plate & mark )
Marked painted wares are important because few painted wares from the early 19th century are marked, and little systematic work has been done on dating these wares. Major change in painted ware technology and style occurs at about the same time as the 1834-1836 Henderson, Walton & Co. period. During the early 1830s underglaze chrome red, light green, and black colors appear for the first time (Miller 2000: 13), as do sprig and bold floral patterns. Both documents and marked painted wares can help to date the brighter color palette and new floral painting styles. Painted ware dates will be the subject of a future article.
The 1835 Henderson, Walton & Co. country store invoice from Sutherland, Menefee & Co. of Santa Anna, Texas, included painted pitchers, and [painted?] teapots, sugars and creamers, and chamber pots (Black and Brandimarte 1987: 3). Marked examples now exist for both bold and sprig painted styles, as well as earlier floral patterns painted in earth colors on pearlware.
The floral painted pattern on the Henderson, Walton & Co. plate consists of the bright color palette of red, green, and black (the latter used for leaves and stems) on a whiteware body, which contrasts with the mustard, olive green, and brown used on painted pearlware bodies dating to the late 18th and first quarter of the 19th centuries.
( detail of plate )
The pattern covers most of the plate's surface, in contrast to fine sprig floral patterns. The name for this bold painting style was Persian painted, a term used in potters' price lists, invoices, and correspondence dating from the 1830s through 1860s.
There are two other known painted pieces with Henderson marks. One is an example of a floral painting style common on pearlware and generally predating the Persian painted plate. The other is an example of a sprig painted style that occurs during the same time period as the Persian painting.
A painted pearlware fragment of a floral pattern in cobalt and mustard with olive drab leaves and brown stem was recovered by Coastal Environments, Inc. (Hahn et al. 2002), from Site D (22AD1019) along the Natchez Bluffs in Adams County, Mississippi. The earth colors and brown stem are typical of painted pearlware dating to the very late 18th century and first quarter of the 19th century. Unlike most painted pearlwares, however, this sherd is marked. The impressed mark reads [H]ENDE[RSON & . . ./ IM[PORTERS]/ NE[W ORLEANS]. The mark appears identical to the mark on the Persian painted plate, although it is impossible to tell if the second partner's name is Walton or Gaines. In either case, the mark doesn't date to the Hill & Henderson period of 1822-1834, when painted pearlwares in earth colors would be expected, but to 1834 or later. Thus, for a time during the 1830s, the Henderson partnerships were importing pieces painted in the old earth colors as well as the new brighter color palette.
floral painted pearlware fragment with earth colors and Henderson mark
 
Site D (22AD1019), Natchez Bluffs, Adams County, Mississippi (Hahn et al. 2002); courtesy of Sara Hahn and Coastal Environments, Inc., Baton Rouge
Ryan Gray of Earth Search, Inc., of New Orleans reports that he has found New Orleans importer marks for the Baldwin Brower Company, documented from 1838-1857 but predating 1838, based on marks on painted and printed pearlwares.
Skip Stewart-Abernathy (2002) illustrates a saucer from Washington, Arkansas, with blue cornflower decoration marked Henderson Walton & Co./ Importers/ New Orleans that is similar in mark and date to the painted plate reported here. Cornflower is a sprig painted pattern featuring four-petalled blue stylized flowers with red accents, green leaves, and black stems. The Henderson, Walton & Co. mark on the cornflower saucer means that both the bold and sprig painting styles date at least as early as 1834-1836. And, again, the Henderson partnerships are importing not only the floral patterns painted in earth colors and the new bold Persian painted styles, but the minimalist sprig painted styles as well.
Cornflower pattern saucer from Old Washington, Arkansas (center, last photo of article)
http://www.uark.edu/campus-resources/archinfo/atuoldwash.html
Printed Patterns with Henderson Marks
In researching Henderson marks to write up this plate, I came across new information on transfer-printed patterns with these marks, which is listed in the bonus section below. Information on additional patterns and, in particular, makers besides Davenport would be greatly appreciated. The maker is Davenport and the pot is documented in the Velasco catalog of transfer-printed patterns (Pollan et al. 1996) unless otherwise noted. The initials (e.g., HH for Hill & Henderson) in the list below refer to the particular Henderson partnership named on the mark. Some archaeological examples have importer's mark fragments that could be from either Henderson, Walton & Co. or Henderson & Gaines since the most common versions of the printed mark are identical except for the company name.
Chinese Birds (HG)
Chinese Pastime (HG; 1836 Davenport anchor mark)
Cities (HH; attributed to Davenport by Arman 1999: 3-5; traditionally attributed to Clews [e.g., Snyder 1995: 45])
Davenport III (HW or HG)
Don Quixote (HH; attributed to Davenport by Arman 1999: 3-5; traditionally attributed to Clews)
Franklin's Morals (HH, another example at p4a.com, an online seller; HW)
French Groups (HW)
Millenium (HH; Ralph Stevenson & Son and others?)
see Henderson Importer Marks section, above
another example at Bishop and Daughter Antiques, an online seller:
http://www.bishopantiques.com/fullphoto.asp?prod=8125
Rose (HG; 45 Canal St., 1836 Davenport anchor mark; Stewart-Abernathy 2002)
Ruins (partnership not specified; Black and Brandimarte 1987: 8)
Scotts Illustrations (HH & HG; for Waverley plate and Bride of Lammermoor platter with HG 45 Canal St. address and 1836 Davenport anchor mark, see Henderson Importer Marks section)
( Scotts Illustrations Legend of Montrose pattern )
Sea Leaf (HW or HG)
Tyrol Hunters (HW)
BAS #13 (HW)
BAS #106 (HW or HG; maker unknown)
Arman (1999: 3-5) gives the chain of associated printed borders and views for attributing the Cities and Don Quixote series of patterns to Davenport, rather than the traditional attribution to Clews. A Franklin's Morals platter with Davenport and Hill & Henderson marks is the basis. A soup tureen with a Cities view is linked to Davenport by its Franklin's Morals border. The Cities and Don Quixote series are associated by a bowl with Don Quixote border and Cities view. Finally, a Don Quixote plate has a Hill & Henderson mark.
The only other reported maker with a Henderson importer mark at Velasco is Ralph Stevenson & Son, maker of the Millenium pattern (Pollan et al. 1996: 54). However, this plate fragment does not have a maker's mark, so it is possible that this popular pattern was copied by other makers.
Kowalsky and Kowalsky (1999: 659) list an additional maker, Enoch Wood & Sons, associated with a Hill & Henderson mark, but without the pattern name or information on the maker's mark, this information is not helpful.
Request for Information
Additional information on Henderson importer marks, particularly those on painted wares or by non-Davenport makers, would be most welcome. Pots with Davenport anchor dates would be particularly helpful. Details on early 19th century marked or dated painted wares (particularly sprig and bold painted patterns) also would be useful, as would dated documents relating to these patterns. To comment, click on "Leave a comment" at the bottom right of this post (you may comment anonymously, even if you are not a Greatest Journal user) and provide details on collection/archaeological site, vessel form, decoration type, pattern, and marks.
Additional importer marks
The following information was provided by readers of the earlier version of this article. We are very grateful for their generosity in sharing.
Jay Stottman of Louisville, Ky., provided images of a Lewis & Wilkes Louisville importer mark fragment and an 1844 newspaper advertisement for this firm.
Lewis & Wilkes mark fragment on undecorated whiteware
Ironstone China
Manufactured for
and Imported by
Lewis and Wilkes
Louisville, Ky.
Lewis & Wilkes dates from Louisville city directories are ca. 1843-1863.
Lewis & Wilkes 1844 advertisement
Commonwealth Convention Center expansion site, Louisville, Ky., courtesy of Jay Stottman, Kentucky Archaeological Survey
Sara and Thurston Hahn provided links to an additional New Orleans importer mark by John Gauche's Sons on a Haviland & Co. late 19th century French porcelain cup. The handled cup is decorated with a floral decal. Marks are H & Co. and FRANCE in red, H & Co./ L/ FRANCE in green, and JOHN GAUCHE'S SONS/ NEW-ORLEANS LA. The country name in the marks indicates a post-McKinley Tariff date of 1892- .
Acknowledgments
The authors are very grateful to the following colleagues who have provided information on Henderson marked pieces and other importer marks: Sara and Thurston Hahn; Skip Stewart-Abernathy; Jay Stottman; Johnney and Sandra Pollan and Judy and David Wayland, Brazosport Archaeological Society; Christopher Lintz; John Penman.
References
Arman, David. "The Cities Series and The Don Quixote Series by Davenport, Revisited." Transferware Collectors Club Bulletin (Fall 1999): 3-5.
Black, Art, and Cynthia Brandimarte. "Henderson & Gaines, New Orleans Ceramics Importers." Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Research Notes: Historic Sites and Materials, No. 2 (Austin, Texas: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, 1987).
Blake, Marie E., and Martha D. Freeman. Nineteenth-Century Transfer-Printed Ceramics from the Texas Coast (Prepared for U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, Galveston District, by Prewitt and Associates, Inc., Austin, 1998).*
Hahn, Thurston H. G. III, Jeramé J. Cramer, Douglas Wells, and Joanne Ryan. Natchez Bluffs-Once Upon and Down Under: Archaeological and Historical Inventory and Reporting for the Natchez Riverfront Revetment, Reach 4 of the Natchez Bluff Stability Study, and the Learned Mill Road Disposal Area, Adams County, Mississippi. Draft report submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg District, by Coastal Environments, Inc., Baton Rouge, 2002.
Kowalsky, Arnold A., and Dorothy E. Kowalsky. Encyclopedia of Marks on American, English, and European Earthenware, Ironstone, and Stoneware, 1780-1980, Makers, Marks, and Patterns in Blue and White, Historic Blue, Flow Blue, Mulberry, Romantic Transferware, Tea Leaf, and White Ironstone. Atglen, Pa.: Schiffer, 1999.
Lockett, Terence A. Davenport Pottery and Porcelain, 1794-1887. Newton Abbot, Eng.: David & Charles, 1972.
Lockett, Terence A., and Geoffrey A. Godden. Davenport China, Earthenware & Glass, 1794-1887. London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1989.
Miller, George L. "Davenport Date Marks." Victorian Ceramics Group Newsletter 3, no. 3 (August 1998): 3-4.
------, with contributions by Patricia Samford, Ellen Shlasko, and Andrew Madsen. "Telling Time for Archaeologists." Northeast Historical Archaeology 29: 1-22.
Perttula, Timothy. "More on Davenport Date Marks." Victorian Ceramics Group Newsletter 3, no. 4 (December 1998): 3.
Pollan, Sandra D., W. Sue Gross, Amy C. Earls, Johnney T. Pollan Jr., and James L. Smith. Nineteenth-Century Transfer-Printed Ceramics from the Townsite of Old Velasco (41BO125), Brazoria County, Texas: An Illustrated Catalogue (Prepared for U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, Galveston District, by Prewitt and Associates, Inc., Austin, 1996).*
Riordan, Timothy. "Still More on Davenport Dates." Victorian Ceramics Group Newsletter 4, no. 1 (May 1999): 4-5.
Ryan, Joanne, Thurston H. G. Hahn III, Sara A. Hahn, Jeramé J. Cramer, Carey L. Coxe, Suzanne Turner, Jennifer M. Abraham, and Katherine M. Roberts. Highway 61 Revisited Cultural Resources Survey, Testing, and Data Recovery of Thompson Creek-Bains, Route LA-US 61 Four Lane Project, West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, State Project Numbers 019-05-0017 and 019-05-0036 (Baton Rouge: Coastal Environments, Inc., 2003).
Snyder, Jeffrey B. Historical Staffordshire: American Patriots and Views. A Schiffer Book for Collectors (Atglen, Pa.: Schiffer, 1995).
Stewart-Abernathy, Leslie (Skip). "Queensware in a Southern Store: Perspectives on the Antebellum Ceramics Trade from a Merchant Family's Trash in Washington, Arkansas." Six-panel poster session with paper presented at annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology, Reno, NV (1988).
------. ATU Research Station: Historical Archaeology: Old Washington Historic State Park, 3HE236 (revised April 26, 2002)
http://www.uark.edu/campus-resources/archinfo/atuoldwash.html
Stottman, M. Jay. Feature 10 (Brick-lined Privy) chapter (draft report on archaeological work at the Commonwealth Convention Center expansion site, Louisville, Ky., by the Kentucky Archaeological Survey).
Wilson, Mike L. "Two Historic Burials in the Three Forks Locale." Oklahoma Anthropological Society Bulletin 17 {1968}: 75-86.
* These catalogs are available for $15.60 (Quintana) and $17.75 (Velasco) postpaid. Make checks payable to Brazosport Museum of Natural Science and mail to 400 College Blvd., Clute, TX 77531-4778. Call 979.265.7831 for information.
August 10, 2004
last revised December 21, 2004
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| Wenger price list cut sponge motifs | Jul. 18th, 2004 @ 08:52 pm |
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As promised, here are the remaining cut sponge motifs from the A. Wenger price lists. See the article on Trenton Sponge Wares of the Late 19th Century for details.
http://www.greatestjournal.com/community/potterynews/10420.html
Nos. 1-50 (two no. 8), A. Wenger price list, poss. April 1888 version in French, no page number
( more sponge motifs )
Nos. 431-474 are in the article below.
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| Rivets and china repair | Apr. 11th, 2004 @ 03:49 pm |
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Mason's Ironstone mug, printed in black and enamel painted, repaired with brass staples
Chinese porcelain saucer, "Canton pattern," repaired with brass staples. It has a paper label from a Philadelphia pottery restorer.
Edited 6/5/05 to add:
The earliest records of this pottery repair/restoration and antiques business date from 1869. The firm began trading as Eberhardt's in 1888, when Harry A., grandfather of current owner William R. Eberhardt, became a partner.
H. A. Eberhardt & Son, Inc.
2010 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
215.568.4144
http://eberhardts.com
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| Smear glaze or dyed body wares | Mar. 3rd, 2004 @ 12:15 pm |
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by George L. Miller
URS Corporation
437 High Street
Burlington, NJ 08016
george_miller@urscorp.com
Posted on HISTARCH on February 16, 2004
Dyed body wares
The blue dyed body earthenware that Alasdair Brooks has been describing appears to be rare on Canadian sites as well. When I worked at Parks Canada in Ottawa, we called them dyed body wares. Drab ware is probably a term the Staffordshire potters applied to some of these wares in the nineteenth century. My gut feeling is that they come out of the jasper and smeared glaze tradition. Here are some references to the dyed body wares.
Bodies from Thomas Lakin’s 1824 Book of Receipts
| Page | Process No. | Description |
| 7 | 9 | Lilac Porcelain Body |
| 7 | 10 | Superior Drab Body |
| 8 | 12 | Fawn or Drab Body |
| 8 | 13 | Calcedon Body |
| 8 | 14 | Brown Body |
| 9 | 15 | Jasper Body |
| 11 | 19 | Black Egyptian Body |
| 13 | 22 | Fawn Porous Body* |
| 14 | 24 | Blue Clay |
| 14 | 25 | Black Clay |
| 14 | 26 | Orange Clay |
| 15 | 27 | Green Clay |
*"This body makes porous wine and butter coolers," i.e., unglazed
Page 19, Section two of the book:
"Receipts for Superior and Common Glazes of Porcelain, Ironstone, Earthenware, and various coloured Drabs, properly adapted for the Bodies described in the first part of this book."
The formulas for dyed bodies listed in Larkin could easily have been adapted for earthenware by just firing them at a lower temperature. Thus the knowledge of how to do this was around by the 1820s for a range of colors. Jasper and Egyptian Black (Basalt) were of course known well before Lakin's book of receipts was published in 1824.
In the mid-1830s a number of molded jugs (pitchers) were produced by potters such as Ridgway and Abington that have impressed marks that read "PUBLISHED BY/ E. RIDGWAY & ABINGTON/ HANLEY / JANUARY 4, 1838" (Godden 1964:533). These are smear glazed dyed body wares and they represent attempts to protect patterns from being copied prior to the English Registry System set up in 1842. After that date a number of smear glazed jugs were produced by various potters with raised registry diamonds as part of their marks. These jugs have dyed bodies in various colors including at least two shades of blue, olive green, and yellow. There is a book titled Relief-molded Jugs, 1820-1900 (Henrywood 1984) that records a large number of these vessels and their registry marks. Smear glazes have been described in Barber's glossary as follows:
Smear A semi-glaze, or thin deposit on the surface of pottery, produced by smearing the inside of the sagger, or fire-clay receptacle, with the glazing preparation, which vaporizes in the heat of the kiln, and settles on the surface of enclosed ware (Barber 1914:48).
The resulting glaze is among the thinnest types of glaze used and thus works very well with the highly molded jugs because the glaze does not obscure the detail of the molding. The inside of such vessels were commonly have a regular lead glaze so they are shiny on the inside and have a very thin glaze on the outside that is often difficult to see. The early smear glaze wares are generally well fired and vitrified. Later ones are sometimes fired at a lower temperature. Smear glazed jugs are fairly common in the antique market, as they seem to survive well. They are somewhat rare in archaeological collections. People interested in pottery would do well to visit antique malls and flea markets where you can handle a variety of wares that are not well represented in museums. Damaged pieces are generally quite cheap and make good type pieces for a comparative collection.
Simeon Shaw's 1829 History of the Staffordshire Potteries on page 183 makes the following comment on dry bodies.
"This relief method was very advantageous, when the Jasper was invented, and the other dry bodies used for the ground could be of any colour, by employing a metallic calc, and the relief figure remain a beautiful white, or any color deemed requisite."
In Shaw's 1837 Chemistry of Pottery on page 458 he writes about dry bodies:
"So named because without glaze are intermediate between porcelain and flint wares, partaking the properties of their biscuits. They are different in qualities and colours. . . They include the kinds: Chemical Utensils, Stone, Jasper, Pearl, Cane, Drab, Red, Black Egyptian, Fawn, Brown, Sage etc."
On page 491 he lists smear glazes as containing a combination of rock salt, potash, and nitre for smearing the inside of saggers.
Griffin's book on the Don Pottery illustrates a number of dyed body wares from an early period and has color plates of "Drabware" and "Chalcedony or Orange Body (2001:167-172). Dudson's history of the Dudson pottery provides some documentary records to go along with many examples of the dyed body jugs, bowls and teapots. From documents she states that "By 1834 the following had been added to the list of recipes used in the production of pottery." "Coloured bodies: Blue Turquoise, Sage, Lilac, Drab, Buff, Cane, Green, Brown, Chocolate, Blue Jasper and Blue dip for Jasper (Dudson 1985:50). A Dudson Brothers bowl in my collection has a dyed body and is vitrified, but covered with a conventional clear glaze rather than a smear glaze. It dates from the period 1898 to ca 1915.
I have seen very few dyed body earthenwares and none with marks that I can recall. The Staffordshire potters' price fixing lists of 1795, 1796, 1808, 1814, 1824, 1833, 1846, 1856 and 1858 do not list any dyed body, drab wares or smear glazed wares. Clearly, not enough were being made to make it worthwhile to set the prices. They do not appear on any of the potters' invoices I have seen for imported wares coming into the United States. Dyed body wares is a safe descriptive term for these wares.
( References cited )
Fig. 1 Color range of some smear glazed vitrified wares. The three sherds are from a waster tip of Ridgway and Abington's near their Church Works pottery in Hanley. The registry mark is for March 7, 1848. The small jug is possibly Dudson's "Hazelnut and Squirrel" pattern (Dudson 1985:90). Notice how clear all of the molding is under a smear glaze. The inside surfaces of all of these vessels have a clear lead-based glaze.
Dyed body wares part two, posting to HISTARCH. March 2, 2004
After my posting on dyed body wares in response to the request for information from Alasdair Brooks, he sent me a jpeg of the blue dyed body sherds that brought about the discussion. The jpeg was not very clear, but from what I could tell, he has some dyed body sherds with a clear lead-based glaze and a couple of molded sherds that appear to have a smear glaze. In addition to the email from Alasdair, some information was just published in the latest issue of The Northern Ceramic Society Journal (Volume 20, 2003-2004) that has some color plates of dyed body wares that add more information to my last posting on the subject. An excellent article by Alwyn and Angela Cox on the Castleford Pottery and its wares has two plates that are transfer printed with a pattern they have called "Long Bridge"(Cox & Cox 2003:36). This pattern is one of the early Chinese style printed patterns produced by English potters. One of the plates is pearlware, and the other is on the "chalcedony body" that appears to be on a tan colored body. You may remember in my last posting on this subject that "Calcedon Body" is listed in Thomas Lakin's 1824 book of ceramic formulas. My notes may have misspelled the body name, but I believed the illustrated plate probably is the same body listed in Lakin (1824:13). Thus, it is clear that printing was being done on dyed body wares, probably by the 1820s if not a little earlier. The plate on the "chalcedony body" in the Cox article probably had a creamware glaze.
In a second article in The Northern Ceramic Society Journal titled "Porcelains of the Ralph Stevenson & Samuel Alcock Partnerships C. 1822 - 1831" by Stephen Bressey and Murry Pollinger illustrates a couple of dyed body wares that do not appear to be porcelain. One jug has a blue dyed body with a highly molded surface of rosettes that has a clear lead-based glaze. It is next to a jug in a white body with the same embossed pattern that has a smear glaze (Bressey and Pollinger 2003-2004:81-82). Thus, it can be seen that the same pattern on a dyed body ware could have either a clear lead-based glaze or a smear glaze.
From what I have seen, it appears that smear glazes are generally used on highly molded wares in which a very thin glaze will enhance the molded pattern and not fill up all of the indented areas with glaze. I have yet to see a smear glaze on unmolded wares. I have some dyed body waster sherds from Hanley and Stoke-on-Trent wares, some with smear glazes and some simple lead based clear glazes. Dyed body wares in the early period (pre 1850), for the most part seems to be highly fired stone china. Some potteries continued to market these well into the late 19th century and some potters appear to have begun to make dyed body wares that were only fired to an earthenware temperature. Some jpegs of a variety of dyed body sherds, both with a smear glaze and with a lead-based glaze can be seen here.
Fig. 2 Comparisons of a dyed body sherd with a smear glaze to three sherds with a lead-based glaze. The Bamboo pattern sherd has the smear glaze that allows for a crisp presentation of the pattern. The other three sherds have a lead-based glaze that partly obscures the pattern because the glaze is thicker in the lower parts of the pattern. The piece with the registry mark is from a parking lot in Stoke-on-Trent near the Minton factory and the pattern was registered by Minton on December 6, 1877. It is well fired, but not vitrified. You can see where the glaze is frost pitted and crazed, something that will not occur on vitrified wares, particularly those with a smear glaze. The smallest sherd in the figure is from the same parking lot and it also is not vitrified and has a lead-based glaze. The plate sherd is from a construction site in Burslem and it also has a lead-based glaze.
( more smear glaze photos here )
See 10/18/04 post for complete example of a blue dyed-body teapot with lead-based glaze:
http://www.greatestjournal.com/community/potterynews/14164.html
( References cited )
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