“At present there are porcelain-works near New York—at Greenpoint, and perhaps elsewhere—making very good and enduring wares, of excellent ‘body’ and glaze, but of coarse and inartistic form and ornament.”
The porcelain-factory last spoken of is that of T. C. Smith and Sons, which, at the Centennial Exhibition, made a creditable display.
Through the courtesy of Mr. Prime, editor of the “Hand-Book of the New York Museum of Art,” I am able to give some extracts essential to this brief history:
“When Delft pottery began to be used for table and household purposes in England, it is probable that small quantities found their way to this country, but neither crockery nor porcelain took the place of pewter and wood on American tables, and the importations increased but slowly with the increase of population and wealth. Wooden trenchers, pewter dishes, mugs, water-pitchers, etc., continued in general use until the present century. By an examination of early newspapers we are enabled to learn much of the character of the table-furniture which dealers advertised for sale, and these were probably alike in all parts of the country. We find pewter always prominent. In the New Haven Gazette of September 30, 1784, a druggist advertises Wedgwood mortars and pestles. In the same paper, October 21st, a dealer advertises ‘blue and white stone-ware, consisting of butter-pots, jars, and cans;’ also ‘quart, pint, and half-pint water-flasks; matted ditto; spaw ditto; Bristol ditto.’ In the same paper, November 25th, a dealer advertises ‘queen’s-ware in small crates, well assorted,’ which had been imported direct to New Haven; and, December 2d, he advertises ‘English china cups and saucers.’ On November 4, 1784, the same dealer advertised ‘a large assortment of coarse stone-ware in crates, large round bottles holding nearly two quarts, in small, convenient hampers, and quart, pint, and half-pint flasks,’ with a discount to those who buy large quantities. This last advertisement may refer to wares made in America. In 1785 we find advertised ‘Nottingham, queen’s, china, and glass ware.’ ‘Nottingham ware’ had long been a popular name in England for brown potteries, originally made at Nottingham, and the name continued in use here until a very recent date.
“Bricks and ruder forms of pottery were made in New England in the eighteenth, and possibly in the seventeenth, century. Investigations in progress may elicit information now wanting on this subject. Josiah Wedgwood, in a letter written in 1765, speaks of a pottery then projected in the Carolinas of whose work he had great apprehensions, and seems to desire some government interference to prevent the colonies from making their own pottery and thus injuring the home business. Before the end of the eighteenth century many potteries were established in various parts of the country, but, so far as is now known, no articles were produced except the ordinary coarser kinds of household utensils.
“ ‘A Brief Examination of Lord Sheffield’s Observations on the Commerce of the United States,’ by Matthew Carey, was printed in successive numbers of the American Museum, in 1791, and was collected in a volume, printed the same year at Philadelphia, with a supplementary note on ‘The Present State of American Manufactures,’ etc. On pages 126 and 127 he has the following observations: ‘Manufactures of glass, of earthen-ware, and of stone, mixed with clay, are all in an infant state. From the quantity and variety of the materials which must have been deposited by Nature in so extensive a region as the United States, from the abundance of fuel which they contain, from the expense of importation, and loss by fracture, which falls on glass and earthen wares, from the simplicity of many of these manufactures, and from the great consumption of them, impressions of surprise at this state of them, and a firm persuasion that they will receive the early attention of foreign or American capitalists, are at one produced. Coarse tiles, and bricks of an excellent quality, potter’s wares, all in quantities beyond the home consumption, a few ordinary vessels and utensils of stone mixed with clay, some mustard and snuff bottles, a few flasks or flagons, a small quantity of sheet-glass and of vessels for family use, generally of the inferior kinds, are all that are now made.’
“Hamilton’s return of exports of the United States from August, 1789, to September, 1790, printed in the appendix to Carey’s book, gives, for earthen and glass ware, nineteen hundred and ninety dollars.
“In Miss Caulkins’s ‘History of Norwich,’ Chapter XLIX., it is stated that in 1796 ‘a pottery for the manufacture of stone-ware was established at Bean Hill, which continued in operation far into the present century, seldom, however, employing more than four or five hands.’ In Morse’s ‘Gazetteer,’ 1797, we read, under Norwich, that the inhabitants manufacture ‘stone and earthen ware.’ In the Norwich (Connecticut) Gazette, September 15, 1796, we find this advertisement of a pottery, which appears to have been in operation by a Mr. Lathrop prior to 1796, and is, without doubt, the one referred to by Miss Caulkins and Dr. Morse:
“ ‘C. POTTS & SON, informs the Public, that they have lately established a Manufactory of EARTHEN WARE at the shop formerly improved by Mr. Charles Lathrop, where all kinds of said Ware is made and sold, either in large or small quantities, and warranted good.’
“A memorial of Samuel Dennis, dated New Haven, October 9, 1789, to the General Assembly of Connecticut, shows ‘that he is acquainted with the potter’s business, and is about to erect a stone-pottery; and there is in this country a plenty of clay which he presumes of the same kind with that from which the queen’s-ware of Staffordshire is usually made; and that he wishes to erect a pottery for the purpose of manufacturing the finer kinds of ware usually made in Staffordshire, particularly the queen’s-ware,’ and he asks the aid of the State in founding the works. His memorial was negatived, and it does not appear whether he went on with his project.