Description:
Tan-bodied stoneware jug stamp-impressed "MARTIN CRAFTS / NASHUA N H / 4" in-filled with cobalt blue, over two blue flowers at the end of crossed stems. In 1834, Martin Crafts (1807-1880), the eldest son of potter Thomas Crafts (1781-1761) of Whately, Massachusetts, moved from Whately to Portland, Maine, and formed a partnership with Eleazer Orcutt (b.1796), originally from Whately, in a stoneware pottery in 1835; the heavily-mortgaged pottery did not do well, and the partnership dissolved in 1837. Martin's uncle, Caleb Crafts (1800-1854), also of Whately, arrived to run the shop in 1837. In 1838, Martin moved to Nashua, New Hampshire, to join the pottery established by his father Thomas Crafts who had been shipping wares to wholesalers in Nahsua for some years when he decided to establish a local branch. Martin took over for his brother, James Monroe Crafts (1817-after 1899), and was joined by Caleb Crafts after the Portland property was sold from 1843 to 1845. The wares made from 1839-1852 (when the business was shut down) were marked "MARTIN CRAFTS / NASHUA N.H." The jug has a narrow spout/lip, incised line around the neck, strap handle with ridges attached to the spout, straight-sided body that curves in at the shoulder, and flat base. Old Sturbridge Village owns a pottery broadside of Martin Crafts' production in Nashua, NH, c. 1844.
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+78.071 |
