Crazy Couple of Weeks

I have been to three ceramic conferences in the last couple of weeks, and the auction house I work for has a HUGE Americana sale this Saturday. It's been a wild ride. Let's just start with the crazy floral arrangement in the above photo. I had the chance to see this at the Wadsworth Atheneum this past weekend during the American Ceramic Circle Symposium. That floral arrangement? IT'S CERAMIC!

All of those petals are CERAMIC!

The basket that it sits in was made in Meissen, Germany in the 1740s, and the basket was then filled with CERAMIC flowers made in Vincennes, France around 1750, and mounted on the gilt base. Isn't that wild?!

The first conference I attended was the Transferware Collectors Club, which was held in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Montpelier and Monticello hosted the group, and it was great to take tours again of the buildings, but then have the chance to see the archaeological collections and watch very knowledgeable individuals help identify the patterns being excavated on the sherds at the two sites. Richard Halliday gave a great presentation on the entire process of copper plate engraving, which was absolutely fascinating.

Then it was off to the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts for their southern ceramics symposium and a good lineup of speakers and tours.

Perhaps the highlight of the weekend (other than the opportunity to speak) was the chance to do pottery demonstrations with Joseph Sand who talked about alkaline glazing and making large pots and Hal and Eleanor Pugh who talked about lead-glazed red earthenware.

Daniel Ackermann, Curator of Collections at MESDA

Angelika Kuettner, Associate Curator of Ceramics and Glass at Colonial Williamsburg

I had a good time getting two curators at my wheel and going through the throwing basics with them, too!

Salt-glazed stoneware urn made at the Lambeth Pottery in England

 This past weekend at the American Ceramic Circle symposium I enjoyed getting to see colleagues from all over, listen to good lectures, and see the great collections at the Wadsworth. There was also this incredible exchange between two contemporary potters, but I will have to save that for another post.

My little (big) man on the left!

Somewhere along the lines, Halloween happened, and I took my little man out to see other kids' costumes, and he picked up on the idea of ringing the doorbell and taking a piece of candy, and also saying "thank you". Shall I crash next week? No, we have another auction in a few weeks!

Kentucky Stoneware Meets Colonial Williamsburg

Antiques Forum representing the Summer Institute at MESDA

 Yours truly had the pleasure recently of presenting at Colonial Williamsburg's Antiques Forum on the topic of my Summer Institute project I worked on last summer with the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA). My research last summer revolved around these three pieces of stoneware pictured below in the collection of the museum.

Isaac Thomas churn, dated 1836. Courtesy, MESDA.

 The first two pieces were made in Maysville, Kentucky. Above, is a large stoneware churn in the shop of Isaac Thomas. Not one of the earliest Maysville pottery families, but the Thomas family may have been the longest in production and had ties with other pottery families of the area. Below is a piece made in the shop of brothers John Wood and Ezekial Wood. There are few pots that I have turned up yet to be identified or marked as being made by J&E Wood.

Crock made by J&E Wood, dated 1845. Courtesy, MESDA.

 Below is a simple crock with an illustrative handwritten note across the top reading, "Made by Geo.(George) Swingle Junr./Mrs. E. Cups/June 9th 1827/Vanceburg, Kentucky". If only other historical potteries wrote the details of the dates and places on them! George Swingle, Junior is a harder case to crack for me, as no other pieces than this one have been identified as his manufacture. The dates of his pottery production are not known, but this piece is the earliest known dated piece of Kentucky stoneware. Very exciting.

Image of SW Pennsylvania potters transporting pots via flatboat. Shaltenbrand.

 Aside from talking about the production points (which I hope to share in a future blog post) and the possible uses of the pieces (all likely kitchen-related), one of the greatest aspects is the movement of the pottery made by these potters. I should say that while this may apply to George Swingle's work, it is not known for sure. So, I refer this bit to Thomas and the Wood brothers. It turns out that one of the Wood brothers was a flatboater. Pictured above and in detail below is an image of Southwestern Pennsylvania potters transporting pots via flatboat. One of the early transportation devices along the Ohio and Mississippi River, materials were transported from Kentucky down to New Orleans and beyond.

 Prior to the development of the steamboat in the second quarter of the 19th-century, those who went by flatboat from Kentucky returned through the Natchez Trace, by foot.

Steamboat with pots lined up. Shaltenbrand.

 This is a great image of a steamboat with pots stacked beside it for shipping. The steamboat allowed travelers and merchandize to travel down river and up river.

 While I have not located any pieces of the Wood brothers further South, I have come across pieces made by Isaac Thomas, specifically for merchants along the Mississippi River. Frontier capitalism at its best! Below is a piece made for a merchant A.L. Yeiser in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Another piece I have seen reads, "Bayou Sara, LA." I hope to find out more about these connections down the Mississi

This project has gone beyond just the Summer Institute, and I am pursuing further research which I hope to find a chance to share soon!

Wood Mouse and Kiln Firing

Brenda on top of the wood pile

Wood mouse spotted a Joseph Sand's kiln on Saturday night! I say "wood mouse" because I felt like a small mouse scrabbling around on top of the gargantuan pile of wood, high off the ground. I did a 6 p.m to midnight shift on Saturday, getting the kiln up to 2,350 degrees Fahrenheit. Even though the air cooled down, I was still really warm working in front of the kiln and moving wood around. It felt so good to come home, peel off the sweaty dirt-covered clothes and shower!

Joseph's kiln quietly chugging away

Prior to the kiln firing, I recently returned from New Jersey where I was wrapping up the research end of my kiln project. Now to go through the 10,000 + images and compare/make sense of the whole thing! One of my favorite pieces of kiln furniture from a site near Ringoes, New Jersey from the 18th-century is this little gem pictured below. It is a triangular piece that I have seen images of similar pieces being made historically in the Raeren area of Germany. Marks on pieces where these are used show they were placed on rims of jars, as well as bases. Looks like they were cut out of a flattened slab of clay, as there are knife/cut marks on the sides.

Kiln furniture piece from Ringoes, NJ. Courtesy, New Jersey State Museum.

In other exciting news, I start the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts' Summer Institute this week. Their focus this year is the Southern Backcountry, one of my favorite topics. My posts may be a bit spotty over the next month, but I will try to keep you updated and share some of my adventures!