Description:
Redware storage jar covered with a layer of iron-stained, brown glaze and incised on the side "E. S. W. 1755." The pot, which descended in the Wolcott family of East Windsor, Connecticut, was traditionally thought to have belonged to Elizabeth Saunders Wolcott (1582-1655). However the pot is dated "1755" so that its association with Elizabeth might be as a memorial object to commemorate her death since she was the wife of Henry Wolcott (1578-1655), the founding member of the Wolcott family in America. Another plausible Wolcott connection is with Elisha (1717-1793) and Sarah Nott Wolcott (d. 1800) of Wethersfield, Connecticut, who married in 1746, whose initials ("E." and "S.W".) correspond to those incised on the pot. This pot is a type of red earthenware food storage vessel used before more durable stoneware became available and popular. Several redware potteries existed in the Connecticut River Valley before the American Revolution, but this jar is the only known surviving example. Between 1750 to 1760, 'earthen pots' are listed in 35% of estate inventories and are often listed in kitchens and butteries. The brick making industry was established in East Windsor by 1755, and it is possible that this jar was made in one of those brick kilns. The jar was crudely thrown on the potter's foot-powered wheel using a wooden tool to raise the pot's sides. After incising the date and initials into the unfired clay, the entire vessel was covered with a layer of brown lead glaze and then fired. The large, bulbous, cylindrical jar, which has large raised ridges along the jar's surface, has broad curving sides curving edge to rim and a flat base. The jar base has three large stilt marks, measuring about 1 1/2" long by 1/16" wide.
Subjects:
Pottery; glaze (coating by location) Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+1999.47 |
