| Many records of the early American pottery do | | | | Examples of red clay domestic ware include |
| not many evidence to prove their existence, but | | | | baking dishes, which are indistinguishable from their |
| some of the written names and some pieces of | | | | English originals; likewise, Pennsylvania dishes with |
| the potteries shows that the American potters | | | | sgraffito decoration closely similar to German |
| were very skilled and artistic. Some newspapers | | | | country-made ones. |
| even showed that American used to imports in | | | | Salt-glazed stoneware was made for suitable |
| quantity from England and from the Far East, | | | | articles, and a tall round butter churn by Clarkson |
| which handicapped the local potters. | | | | Crolius Senior, made about 1800, belongs to the |
| SOME of the earliest inhabitants of both North and | | | | New York Historical Society. At about the same |
| South America were skilled and artistic potters, | | | | date a pottery was set up to make cream ware |
| and examples of their work are to be found in | | | | to compete with imported Wedgwood, gave it |
| museums; occasionally, they can be bought. In | | | | the name of Tivoli Ware and advertised for |
| more modern times, in the days of John Smith | | | | orders and apprentices. |
| and Pocahontas, there were still potters at work | | | | Authentic pieces of the early wares are |
| in America, and it would not have taken the | | | | extremely scarce; as it was purely utilitarian in |
| European settlers long to find a suitable clay from | | | | purpose it was seldom, if ever, marked. The |
| which to make domestic pieces. In 1641 there is a | | | | demand for anything sophisticated was met from |
| record of James Pride, a potter at Salem, | | | | abroad, until in the early nineteenth century, when |
| Massachusetts, and it is believed that others were | | | | conditions grew more settled in the land, and |
| operating in Jamestown, Virginia. Of these first | | | | manufactories were started to supply the home |
| craftsmen, and many that followed in their wake, | | | | market on a large scale. |
| there is a little to show except a written record | | | | A man named Andrew Duche, born in Philadelphia |
| of some of their names. They made useful | | | | in 1710, made porcelain in about 1740. A small |
| everyday wares that served their purpose, were | | | | bowl with Oriental-style under glaze blue |
| broken and discarded, and there was no particular | | | | decoration was discovered in 1946 and is |
| reason to treasure them. | | | | assumed to be one of his experimental pieces. It |
| The picture changed little in the first | | | | is in a private collection in the United States. Thirty |
| three-quarters of the eighteenth century. The | | | | years later, two partners named Gouse Bonnin |
| Crolius and Remney families were established at | | | | and George Anthony Morris started a factory in |
| Potters' Hill, New York City; while at Burlington, | | | | Philadelphia, but it is doubtful whether they made |
| New Jersey, Daniel Coxe made what he described | | | | much true porcelain. The first successful |
| as 'White Chiney Ware'. Newspapers of the period | | | | commercial making of the ware was again in |
| show that pottery and porcelain were imported in | | | | Philadelphia and owed its inception to a Quaker, |
| quantity from England and from the Far East, and | | | | William Ellis Tucker, who began to experiment in |
| the local potters were left to make little other | | | | 1826. Tucker's porcelain was of good quality and |
| than 'butter, water, pickle, oyster and chamber | | | | included tea sets, vases and other pieces, many |
| pots; milk pans of several sizes; jugs, mugs, | | | | of which won awards at exhibitions in New York |
| bowls, porringers, cups, etc. | | | | and elsewhere. The factory closed in 1838. |
| Very little has survived that can be dated | | | | The imports from England and other Far East |
| positively as having been made before 1800, and | | | | Asian countries left the local potters only to make |
| in America. A bowl in the Brooklyn museum, of | | | | things like 'butter, water, pickle, oyster and |
| Pennsylvania red earthenware incised with the | | | | chamber pots; milk pans of several sizes; jugs, |
| date 1775 is outstanding; in the same museum is | | | | mugs, bowls, porringers, cups, etc. But some of |
| a white pottery sauceboat, copied probably from | | | | the potteries in different museums of American |
| a Liverpool imported example, decorated with | | | | states prove that they also made potteries in |
| Chinese landscapes in blue, made in Philadelphia. | | | | their own styles and designs. |