Nineteenth century red earthenware and stoneware that was later painted was a trend that happened in the 20th century, although there is no official record of when this first took place. But with some objects, the paint is more important than the object from a historical context. For instance, found in the collection of theAmerican Art Museumat theSmithsonian Institutein Washington, D.C., is a basiclate 19th century stoneware jug that is said to have been used for whiskey, although it was later painted by noted 20th century folk artist Clementine Hunter (1886/87-1988) sometime during the ca. 1970-80 period.The jugportrays the Three Wise Men bearing gifts to the newborn Jesus, as well as their accompanying angels. Hunter was a self-taught African-American artist known for painting depictions of early 20th century plantation life in Louisiana. These colorful paintings did not rely on traditional perspective, and instead took a creative approach of day-to-day activities on plantations and done on ordinary plates, using discarded fabric and other readily available materials. However, there were also utilitarian red earthenware manufacturers in America and Ontario, Canada, in the late 1800s that employed artists or skilled workers at the factory to decorate unglazed objects. In some cases, the pottery is marked with a company stamp, whereas in other cases, it is not marked, and the painted decoration can be misinterpreted for pottery that was decorated outside of the factory at a later date such as what was just discussed. Among the first American businesses to produce painted pottery was the Charles A. Lawrence (1829-1904) Pottery in Beverly, Mass., in the early 1870s. Lawrence was a second generation American, his father having immigrated from Portugal. He trained at the Joseph Reed Pottery in neighboring Peabody (South Danvers), Mass. before establishing his own company in Beverly in the mid-1860s. He also employed an artist from Marblehead named Thomas Pitman (1848-1923) to paint some of the pottery, which included work inspired after ancient design. In one way or another, this type of production continued until at least the 1890s, where Lawrence advertised that it was shipped all over America. Painted pottery bearing Lawrences company stamp is known in an 1870s context of ownership, as far west as Colorado, based on a painted vase owned by the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum. This type of production from Beverly has also garnered the attention of such museums as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan, which displays an ancient style painted red earthenware jug bearing the companys stamp. Interestingly, it may just be a coincidence, but these ancient style wares made at the C.A. Lawrence Pottery may have also influenced other local potteries. For example, the Robertson family in Chelsea, Mass., hired John G. Low, a young Chelsea artist, to paint similar decorated wares at the Chelsea Keramic Art Works around the Centennial or shortly thereafter. Some of Lows painted pottery is displayed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which the museum acquired the year it was made in 1877. There is also a painted ancient style ewer in the collection of Historic New England. The Abraham Hews Pottery in North Cambridge, Mass., also began producing some painted ancient style pottery and other decorative wares in the later part of the 1870s, which was accompanied with an antique pottery catalog published in 1877. Some of this production was then displayed at the 13th Exhibition of Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association in 1878. This type of production also took place at the John Farmer Clark (1832-1885) Pottery in Concord, N.H., around this same period. There were also a number of potteries producing red earthenware in America and Ontario in the 1880s and 1890s painted with flowers, landscape scenes and other decorative subjects. For instance, the Goodwin Brothers Pottery in West Hartford, Conn., produced more than 100 decorative shapes between the ca. 1877-85 period, some of which may have been painted at the factory by women artists. Very few of these objects are signed today, but there is a selection of painted objects owned by the Noah Webster House & the West Hartford Historical Society. The company later advertised more shapes in a price list that was published in 1911. Another potter, George Francis Hamlyn (1849-1923), was born in Philadelphia, and he may have trained there as well; however, his father and mother migrated to the city from England, and Hamlyn is listed as a potter working in Haddonfield, N.J., in 1880. In the 1889-90 Cumberland County City Directory, there is an advertisement that lists Hamlyn as the proprietor of the East Lake Pottery in southern New Jersey. He states that he is a Manufacturer and Dealer in Stone, Earthen, Rockingham, and Terra Cotta Ware, Wholesale and Retail. Artistic and Unique Designs in Fancy Pottery made to order. Furthermore, a variety of painted ancient style pottery and artistically decorated red earthenware was also manufactured in Philadelphia, such as the Galloway Terracotta Company, some of which was produced in 1881 and displayed today at the Cincinnati Art Museum in Ohio. In southcentral Pennsylvania, Henry and Charles Speese operated a red earthenware business in Gettysburg, where they painted some pottery, but much of their production surrounded around the commemorative wares that they advertised as Made from material (clay) taken from the most historical portions of the field (in Gettysburg),they are themselves relics. There was also painted wares produced elsewhere in Pennsylvania, and also at the potteries in Strasburg, Va., in parts of New York State and most likely elsewhere in America. However, one other notable pottery was a business owned by John A. Kennedy, ca. 1889-95 in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. In 1889, he opened the J.A. Kennedy Pottery at 159 Darling Street, located near the Brantford Stoneware Works. Kennedy owned the business until about 1895 when it was then taken over by a different owner, although the name of the company remained the same until roughly 1897. Known wares produced at the Kennedy Pottery were red earthenware, usually unglazed with painted floral designs. Some of the larger forms included vases and chargers, handpainted with floral designs or scenes applied and imprinted with Kennedys signature on the bottom, which reads,J.A. KENNEDY / Brantford, Ont. Kennedy also hired women to paint various decorations on a variety of the potterys work ranging from simple flowers to more elaborate scenes. Additionally, I suspect the employment of women artists at these types of businesses in America and Canada in the late 1800s may have been a regular practice and more widespread than what is recognized today, whereas an object may appear like it was painted in the early 1900s, when it was actually painted at the pottery business, and it was just never signed or marked by the artists or the company. Sources Thomas, Justin W. The Beverly Pottery: The Wares of Charles A. Lawrence. Beverly, Mass. Historic Beverly, 2019. _____. A City on the River: The Early Red Earthenware of the Hartford, Connecticut Area. Beverly, Mass.: Historic Beverly, 2023. _____. A Study Of 19th-Century Painted Terracotta Wall Plates Marked Coulter & Long, Philadelphia. Antiques & Auction News, Feb. 23, 2024. _____. The Abraham Hews Pottery Of Weston & North Cambridge, Mass. Antiques And The Arts Weekly, March 17, 2023.