Description:
Sidney Risley moved to Norwich from Hartford, where his brother Albert had been a potter for many years. In 1835, he leased land in Norwich, where he built a pottery. By the 1840s, he had a thriving business on the banks of the Thames River. Risley’s son, George, joined the business around 1865 and continued working there until December 24, 1881, when he was killed in a boiler explosion. The Risleys made simple utilitarian stoneware and also experimented with more highly elaborate forms incorporating molded decorations and colored glazes. Molded jug with eight panels, each panel has a shell and below is a garland of flowers, there is an attached handle that has an s curve then a curve inward, the jug has a prominent spout with molded grapes on either side of the shell, the whole is covered with a dark brown Albany slip or Rockingham glaze which gets light brown toward the base of the jug, impressed mark on the base of the jug, “S. RISLEY/ NORWICH”, jug has a small chip on the rim of the spout, and small chips to the edge of the base. The coloration of this pitcher results from firing Albany slip-glazed ware in a salt-glazing kiln. A similar Risley "cider pitcher" is illustrated in Lura Woodside Watkins, Early New England Potters and their Wares, pl. 115. According to Watkins the descendants of the Risley family still had his account book dated from 1853 to October 1861. Molded wares begin to appear in 1855, and the first objects made were pitchers in quart, two quart, and gallon sizes.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2014.4.140 |
