AFA 20th Anniversary

Antiques & Fine Art 149 2020 Four-gallon cooler, Somerset Potters Works (active 1847–1882), Somerset, Mass., 1847–1860. Salt-glazed stoneware. H. 16 inches. Colonial Williamsburg Collections, Museum Purchase (1975.900.1). In 1847, brothers Benjamin and Clark Chace built a stoneware kiln on their family property in Somerset, Massachusetts, and incorporated as the Somerset Potters Works. The family had made earthenware in Somerset at least as early as 1768. This cooler is distinguished by stamped decoration of birds on branches. Stamped ornamentation is uncommon on stoneware from New England, but is often seen on pottery made in New York State. The Somerset Potters Works’ investment in stamps for this type of embellishment suggests a commitment to decoration on functional wares. Flowerpot, Enos Smedley (1805–1892), Westtown, Penn., 1825. Lead-glazed earthenware. H. 93⁄16 inches. Gift of Beatrix T. Rumford (1983.900.1). Incised script beneath the upper scalloped edge of this handsome pot reads “Elizabeth Canby Brandywine 11th MO 21st 1825.” It is extremely rare for a utilitarian object such as a flowerpot to retain a detailed history of ownership and a strong attribution to a specific pottery, but this example bears both. Elizabeth Roberts Canby, the original owner of this flowerpot, married James Canby in 1803. “Brandywine” was the name of their Wilmington, Delaware, home. As of yet, the significance of the 1825 date has not been identified as having an association with the couple. But other flowerpots made by Enos Smedley bear similar dates that seem unassociated with the names on the pots, so it is likely that the date documents the pot’s production, a common practice shared by many potters on both sides of the Atlantic.