Posts Tagged ‘american pottery’

Art Deco Table Wares
Companies engaged in manufacturing products for preparing and serving food found it necessary to accommodate the new trends in modern design. Streamlined and angular shapes can be found not only in sets of china but in kitchen equipment as well. In this section, table wares are not confined to dishes but include other utilitarian and decorative pieces. Because of the great diversity of this category, it is possible to show only a sample of items, but the pieces illustrated should alert collectors to the many possibilities table wares offer. Photographs are arranged approximately in alphabetical order according to the function of the item, ranging from candle holders, centerpieces and crumbers, to pitchers and a toaster!
Table wares basically are made of pottery, glass or metal. Ceramics include earthenware or semi-china, stoneware and porcelain. Simplified decoration distinguishes Deco china from that produced during the Victorian years. Floral transfer patterns covering the entire surface of china gave way to colored line borders or abstract geometric patterns. Sometimes china was left undecorated with the shape or mold drawing attention to a modern image. Geometric shapes other than the usual circular form are seen here in the rectangular bowl and the triangular shaped cup and saucer.
Ceramic table wares can be found at all price levels. Pieces designed and handpainted by Clarice Cliff for the Royal Staffordshire Pottery during the late 1920’s and early 1930’s are highly regarded by advanced collectors. Price can reach several hundred to several thousand dollars for some examples, especially those with floral and landscape decor. “Bizarre,” “Geometric,” — and “Fantasque” were some of the pattern names. The English artist’s signature was included on most of her work. Pieces which do not have her name or signature as part of the mark are usually considerably lower in price. “The Biarritz” soup bowl shown here is one such example. Although the pattern is quite simple, it also merits consideration as a form of Deco table ware. Deco patterns by other English potters are also quite collectible. Many good examples in the moderate price ranges are surfacing. These may be found mixed in with other miscellaneous dishes by dealers who do not specialize in Art Deco.
“American Modern, ” designed by Russel Wright for the Ohio based Steubenville Pottery is also quite collec
tible and much lower in price. This line was made from about 1939 through the late 1950’s. Solid colored surfaces without other added decoration implied a modern concept. Many other European and American pottery and porcelain factories produced their own renditions of “modern” style. Japanese table ware companies used similar interpretations to reach the large American market. Deco patterned china made by the Noritake firm has been attracting many collectors during the last few years. Prices are still affordable but not inconsequential. Table china, however, is probably the largest source of Art Deco “sleepers” and possible bargains today.
Angular shapes or stylized designs cut or molded into glass table wares were made to grace the dining tables of the period. Art glass by French manufacturers is usually too expensive for moderate collectors. The large blue centerpiece bowl made by Daum and the smoke glass bowl by Verlys are two such examples. These would fall into the “investment” rather than the “fun” class of Deco collectibles. But, like ceramics, many types of inexpensive table glass were made during the 1930’s and 1940’s by American factories. Depression era glass collectors began to salvage pieces during the 1960’s. A number of the patterns have unmistakable Deco characteristics. “Manhattan,” a clear glass pattern made by Anchor Hocking is just one type finding its way into Deco collections. The ruby red, cobalt blue and deep green colored glass made by other American glass companies also qualifies as Deco. Quite a few pieces are very attractive, some are even elegant and others are just amusing.
Flatware, serving pieces and decorative table articles can be found in silver, brass, copper, chrome and plated metals. Chrome and plated metals are the least expensive. Nude or semi-nude figures were made into metal centerpieces or candle holders. Prices are competitive with other figural items and examples are just as much in demand. A number of metal Deco items were originally silverplated. Because the plating wears off, items become ugly and lose much of their value. Dealers have found it lucrative to have such objects stripped to the base metal which was usually copper or brass. The copper centerpiece with a pot metal nude is an example which was once silver plated. Do not automatically disregard badly worn plated pieces which have obvious Deco signs. It may be wise to have them stripped and polished by a commercial firm which specializes in that kind of work.

The manufacture of earthenware by early colonists in North America began as a cottage industry and never grew on a scale consistent with the rapid growth in population and technology in the USA over the last 200 years. The relatively minor impact of domestically produced American pottery may be considered a testament to the extraordinarily high standards of European earthenwares, particularly the products of Staffordshire, which have been exported in enormous quantities since the declaration of American independence (1776). Although a few distinctly American forms and types of decoration emerged during the 19th century, the only pottery that can be considered uniquely American is that made by the Native Americans, the earliest examples of which pre-date European settlement by thousands of years.
EARLY POTTERY
Any domestically produced American pottery made before the mid-18th century is extremely rare. American pottery of this period is limited to simple, thickly potted red or buff earthenware. As the population grew in north-eastern America during the second half of the 18th century, distinctive pottery types were manufactured, all of which were useful. An industry developed for the manufacture of salt-glazed stoneware, which was superior to the porous and brittle common earthenwares. Early American stoneware (pre-1800) was mainly produced by German immigrants in the south-eastern states of Virginia and Georgia.
“Yellow-ware” describes any type of earthenware with an opaque, yellow glaze. This glaze was used in North America throughout the 19th century to make utilitarian wares including mixing bowls or “pans” (deep dishes for cooling milk). Of greater interest is slipware, sometimes erroneously termed “Pennsylvania slipware”, which refers to red-bodied (or occasionally buff) earthenware,
made largely in Connecticut, decorated with trailed Slip, usually of ochre or chocolate brown. Common forms are deep plates, “pans”, and pie dishes, which arc often worn through extended use, and so of little value. Common decoration is abstract, but additional inscriptions, dates, figural images, or highly accomplished patterns are particularly sought after.
“Spongeware” and “spatterware” were made throughout the 19th century and describe household mixing bowls, teaware, and platters with random, mottled patterns, typically in pale blues and
yellows. Small plates and mugs (often made in Staffordshire) with spattered borders and naively painted farm animals or figures are extremely
popular. “Mochaware” is of comparable collectability and interest, especially early 19th-century examples. The term describes glazed earthenware with “tree” forms in the pale glaze, which are caused by the capillary action of the brown slip. Mugs and jugs, most of which were originally made in Staffordshire for the North American market, are typical.
STONEWARE
Most North American stoneware of the 19th century was made in the north-eastern state of Vermont, principally by the Norton family of Bennington. The high standards and successful forms of Norton’s stoneware were imitated throughout New England until the beginning of the 20th century when stoneware became virtually obsolete. Two standard forms of “Bennington crock” were made (one of simple cylinder form with “ear” handles, and one of jug type) for the storage and transport of liquids, including apple cider, ale, and maple syrup. Other forms include covered pots, chamber-pots, spittoons, water coolers, and jugs, some of which were coated in brown glaze.
Decoration on American stoneware was rare before c.1830 and varied only subtly for the rest of the 19th century. It is typically in underglaze cobalt blue painted in a naive manner, sometimes over a scratched design. Usual images include flowers (least collectable), insects, ornamental numerals, birds, animals, landscapes, and commemorative designs, the latter being among the most desirable. Some types of decoration arc characteristic of a particular potter or date; for example, butterflies arc associated with the Norton family in the 1830x.
LATER POTTERY
In the late 19th century American commercial potters were established well beyond New England. New centres included Pittsburgh and other towns in Pennsylvania and neighbouring Ohio; Baltimore, Maryland; New York City; and Trenton in New Jersey, which by the 1880s was known as the “Staffordshire of America”. The output consisted entirely of utilitarian pieces. Much was in the form of “granite ware”, a highly practical, heavy, white earthenware of ironstone type, which was often left undecorated. Typical examples, which arc common owing to the robust nature of the ware, include tureens and tableware of all types, comparable to contemporary Staffordshire but larger in scale. Most tableware in daily use took the form of inexpensive transfer-printed wares imported from Staffordshire, the most collectable of which are those decorated with American scenes.
Rockingham-glaze ware – earthenware with a rich, sometimes lustrous, brown glaze – was produced extensively in the USA at this time, notably by the United States Pottery of Bennington, Vermont, founded by Christopher Fenton c.1840 and active throughout the century. Most examples are slip-cast, relief-moulded hollow-wares, including jugs, figural flasks, spittoons, furniture rests, and statuary. Pairs of “chimney dogs” (based on Staffordshire models but larger in scale) and recumbent lions are characteristic of the Bennington pottery and most desirable.
A uniquely American and fairly rare naive pottery, consisting of unusual `pinched” forms with applications under green glaze, was made by settlers in the Shenandoah Valley of the Virginias in the mid-19th century. The wares are well-potted, and innovative examples may bear scratched signatures or monograms. Much more common and widely collected is American majolica, which was produced at several factories from the 1860s until the beginning of the 20th century. The best majolica was made by the firm of Griffen, Smith Hill ( 1867-1902) in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.
NATIVE AMERICAN POTTERY
The majority of 19th-century Native American pottery that appears on the market today was made in the states Of the south-western USA by nations including the Hopi, the Navajo, and the Acoma. Most wares arc unglazed terracotta, and all items are of traditional design and manufacture – either coil-formed or thrown. Decoration is typically painted, with geometric patterns in faded earth tones. Collecting Native American pottery is a rapidly growing area of interest, and examples that can be dated to before the centennial of 1876 are especially sought after. However, dating can be very difficult owing to the continuous production of the traditional forms.
Early pottery
• YELLOW-WARE very collectable, particularly among admirers of folk art, but few pieces have significant value, and many arc of European origin
• SLIPWARE well decorated pieces arc most desirable
• SPONGEWARE AND SPATTERWARE reproduction and
restoration are quite common
• SIZE American wares are generally larger and more
heavily potted than contemporary English wares
• COLLECTING early wares are very rare and are usually so worn that they have relatively little value; examples that bear dates, arc well decorated, and arc unusual in form or decoration will raise collector interest
Stoneware
• COLLECTING made in large quantities; the most
desirable arc pieces with unusual decoration
Later pottery
• COLLECTING Rockingham-glazed wares are valuable if the form is unusual and figural; English majolica is more popular than American majolica in the USA
Native American pottery
• COLLECTING wares are difficult to date and arc often in fairly poor conditionMARKS
• signed examples arc usually 20th century