Description:
Stoneware production in Albany began around 1800 when a pottery on Washington Street was opened by William Capron. A small number of modestly decorated stoneware vessels bearing the mark "ALBANY WARE" are believed to have been made there, although no examples are known with his actual signature. In 1805, an enterprising businessman named Paul Cushman purchased Capron's site.Cushman was born in New Hampshire in 1767 and spent most of his early years on his uncle's farm in Vermont. Once of age, he traveled throughout the Lake Champlain area of Canada. Records indicate that he had arrived in Albany by 1800 and was working as a contractor on the docks. It was a time of great expansion for the city, with significant development on the waterfront, and a great number of people migrating from the northeast to Albany, or through Albany on their way west. They were drawn to the city by two major turnpikes, the Albany-Schenectady and Great Western, and also by the Hudson River, an important route for the trafficking of goods. Paul Cushman arrived in the city at an opportune time. Unlike Capron, there is no evidence that Cushman was ever trained as a potter. In his family genealogy, he is described as an enterprising individual, a businessman. He was first and foremost a pottery owner. Whether he made any is questionable." Evidence suggests that Cushman may have hired other men to produce his ware. In the 1820 Census, he had six men living at his house, possibly potters. Paul Cushman died in 1833, and his operation was carried on by his widow and son, Robert S. Cushman, for about a year. Cushman stoneware is perhaps best known for the large signatures impressed into the surface of his vessels. There are several variations of his maker's mark. All were produced from a coggle wheel with raised letters that was rolled across the wet clay before firing. Most commonly, collectors and historians will find examples impressed "PAUL : CUSHMAN'S" in large capital letters. In two cases, the mark includes a date of production, the earliest reading "PAUL CUSHMAN'S STONEWARE FACTORY 1809" and another with identical wording, but ending in the date 1811. The most interesting of Cushman's coggled signatures reads "PAUL : CUSHMAN'S: STONEWARE : FACTORY : 1809 : HALF : A : MILE : WEST OF ALBANY : GOAL". In this case, the word "GOAL" is an archaic spelling of "jail." Cushman stoneware is also known to be decorated around the circumferences of vessels with four distinct coggled designs: simple dashes, diamonds linked to a pinwheel within a circle, a vine and leaf motif, and diamonds with elliptical flower petals. Ovoid-shaped pot with open circular mouth; two handles on either side of the mouth; handle attachments are painted in cobalt blue; impressed letter maker's mark on front of pot reads: "PAUL: CUSHMAN," interior coated with Albany slip, llegible inscription on base in script "Summrit?/ Su." Drip of Albany slip about four inches long from top rim through mid-body. Owner's label in blue ink on base of pot reads: "2000/30327-1"
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2005.19 |
