Description:
Tan-bodied with reddish overtones stoneware jar stamp-impressed "T. CRAFTS & CO, WHATELY / 4" in-filled with cobalt blue, over three flowers on stems extending from a leaf. Thomas Crafts (1781-1861) was one of the most successful potters in Whately (a town just south of Deerfield). He started making glazed redware pottery in 1802, developing a successful teapot business; he switched to salt-glazed stoneware in 1833 and was active until 1848, turning over the business to his sons. The jar has a beveled base and sides curving out until approximately one half of the distance up and then curving in towards the slightly flared rim. There is a wide mouth that supported a cover, two C-shaped lug handles, and an incised line around the neck that passes through the tops of the handles. The salt glaze is thin; the interior is coated with Albany slip. There are rows of incised grooves on the bottom. Stress fracture on top lip, circular fracture on the base. A glob of salt glaze has dropped onto the back of the jar. The crackled surface may result from the unfired clay drying at an uneven rate; the crackle appears to be in the body and not the glaze.
Subjects:
Pottery; Enamel and enameling; glaze (coating by location); Stoneware Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+78.024 |
