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Maker(s):Crafts, Thomas (attributed)
Culture:American (1781-1861)
Title:jug
Date Made:1825-1830
Type:Food Processing; Container
Materials:ceramic: iron-stained lead glaze over red earthenware (redware), painted plaster fills
Place Made:United States; Massachusetts; Whately
Measurements:overall: 10 3/8 x 5 5/8 in.; 26.3525 x 14.2875 cm
Accession Number:  HD 1999.42
Credit Line:Hall and Kate Peterson Fund for Minor Antiques
Museum Collection:  Historic Deerfield
1999-42t.jpg

Description:
One gallon redware jug covered with a brownish-black "teapot" glaze which is not often found on utilitarian redware. The jug is attributed to Thomas Crafts (1781-1861) who 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 succesful teapot business which sold through out New England, especially his black lead-glazed tea pots (see teapots, HD 1999.48 and HD 2117). Thomas switched to salt-glazed stoneware in 1833 and was active until 1848, turning over the business to his sons. This jug was bought at Ken Miller's Auction Barn, Northfield, Massachusetts (July 21, 1999), from the collection of Henry Baldwin, a collector and author of books on Whately ceramics. This jug was found in the cellar of the oldest home in Whately shortly before it burned (year unknown), which was owned by Baldwin's father-in-law. The ovoid cylindrical jug has a rounded lip, wide shoulders, and tapering base, and flat bottom; and is covered with a lustrous black lead glaze fading to a lighter brown on one side. The jug has been broken and restored using plaster or some other material to fill in the lost areas, the fills appear to be ground and sanded down; the glaze also shows evidence of cracking during the firing process.

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+1999.42

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