Ornamental Origins: Philadelphia Manufactured Ceramics With Engine-Turned Decoration

Summary

The disruption of foreign trade brought on by the Embargo Act of 1807 and the subsequent War of 1812 led American artisans and mechanics to produce locally made goods in imitation of the primarily British imports no longer available to American consumers. In Philadelphia, some potters began experimenting with white bodied refined ceramics while others continued to work in red clay with manganese and iron glazes, yet exchanged traditional utilitarian forms for sophisticated table- and teawares. Many of these vessels were decorated using mechanized engine-turned lathes that were thought to only be available to English potters. This paper will report on a grant funded study to determine the origins of these engine-turned red earthenwares and introduce new insights into the history and development of the American ceramic industry of the nineteenth century.  

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018   •
• Ceramics in the City, the Countryside, and the Sea: Pottery, Politics, and Archaeology

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 554