March 2007 Volume 8 Issue 1 T RENTON POTTERIES Newsletter of the Potteries of Trenton Society Mayer’s Pottery and a Portneuf /Quebec Puzzle Jacqueline Beaudry Dion and Jean-Pierre Dion Spongeware sherds found in the dump site ENT PROCESS/FEB 1st 1887” and deco- of Mayer’s Arsenal Pottery in Trenton, rated with the cut sponge chain motif so New Jersey, revealed the use of several mo- popular in England and Scotland. Many tifs including the chain or rope border that of the sponge decorated ware found in was used later in Beaver Falls, Pennsyl- the Portneuf-Quebec area (and thus vania. Those cut sponge wares, when found called Portneuf wares) were actually in the Quebec area, are dubbed “Portneuf” made in Scotland, especially those de- and generally attributed to the United picting cows and birds. Finlayson Kingdom, in particular to Scotland. The (1972:97) naturally presumed the barrel mystery of the Portneuf chain design iron- had been produced in Scotland, al- stone barrel (Finlayson, 1972:97 ) is no though his research in England and more a puzzle: a final proof of its United Scotland failed to show any record of States origin is provided by a patent such a name or such a patent. “Could granted to J. S. Mayer in 1887. this J. S. Mayer,” he wrote, “have been associated with the John Thomson Ann- he small ironstone china barrel field Pottery [Glasgow, Scotland]? Per- T found in the Province of Quebec haps his process was used in the Thom- and illustrated here (Figure 1), is ap- son Pottery. It is likely that the true ex- proximately 5.5 inches high. It is im- planation of this perplexing puzzle will pressed on the base “J. S. MAYER/ PAT- never be known!” Contents Mayer’s Pottery and a Portneuf/Quebec Puzzle Jacqueline Beaudry Dion and Jean-Pierre Dion..........................1 Eastfield Village Ceramics Workshops ................................4 “Fancy Rockingham” Pottery Exhibit........................................5 The Potteries of Trenton Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to the study and preservation of Trenton’s ceramic past. Officers: President— (Continued on page 2) Patricia Madrigal; Treasurer—Amy Earls; Secretary—Brenda Springsted. Board: Ellen Denker, Richard Hunter, Meta Janowitz, Jay Lewis, Emma Lewis, William Liebeknecht, George Miller, Brenda Springsted, Rebecca White. Figure 1. Ironstone china barrel from Quebec. Decorated with cut sponge chain motif. Newsletter Editor: Patricia Madrigal Impressed on the base with “J. S. MAYER/PATENT PROCESS/FEB 1ST 1887.” Page 2 Trenton Potteries Volume 8 Issue 1 Mayer’s Pottery and Portneuf Figure 2. Patent no. 356,773, awarded to J. S. Mayer, demonstrating a jiggering process that seems to be related to the barrel in Figure 1. The text from the patent describe the objects and the operation of the device. (Continued from page 1) the chain or rope design. Liebeknecht raises the possibility that the Trenton But as is now ascertained, the an- facility “may have ceased production of swer lies on this side of the Atlantic. James spongeware after 1883,” its production and Joseph S. Mayer operated the Arsenal shifting then to the facility in Beaver Pottery, located near the State Arsenal in Falls, Pennsylvania, but the chain or Trenton, New Jersey from 1876 to 1905. Portneuf decorated barrel suggest pro- They produced Rockingham and brown duction of spongeware persisted at stoneware and majolica (Goldberg 1998:44) Trenton until 1887 and likely a short as well as spongeware. Mayer’s Arsenal period longer. Pottery dump, situated along the banks of After much trial and error, we the Delaware River in Trenton was inves- have been able to find not one but three tigated by Hunter Research, Inc. in 1999 patents granted to Joseph Mayer of and thousands of cut sponge-decorated Trenton, in the county of Mercer and ironstone china sherds were recovered State of New Jersey, on February 1st (Liebeknecht 2001: 1-4), some of them with (Continued on page 3) Trenton Potteries Volume 8 Issue 1 Page 3 Mayer’s Pottery and Portneuf tom, where an annular rim is formed as a base of the vessel.” His solution was dif- ferent and maybe more cumbersome: a mold with two vertically divided parts and a third part enclosed within said parts to form a removable bottom, used with a jigger and combining an adjust- able knife adapted to the desired shape (see patent no. 282,369, dated July 31, 1883, of the USPO). Mayer obtained a third patent dated February 1, 1887, no. 356,774 (Figure 3). This relates to the manufac- turing of vessels having either handles or ears. The object is to provide a means “whereby the handle or ear and the body of a potter’s vessel can be formed at a simultaneous operation, and a more per- fect union of the two established by mu- tual junction while the plastic clay is at its best working temperature and in much less time than is consumed…by the old method”. It involves hand press- Figure 3. Patent no. 356,774, also awarded to ing, jiggering and uniting the parts in a Mayer, related to the manufacture of vessels continuous operation in the same mold. with handles or ears. The quest about the sponge deco- (Continued from page 2) rated barrel pictured in Finlayson’s book 1887 by the United States Patent Office led us unexpectedly to three patents (USPO). One is about improvements in granted in 1887 to Joseph Mayer of Tren- pottery kilns and is concerned with an ton, solving at the same time a so-called apparatus for the fusion of potters’ Portneuf ware mystery. Patents are im- glaze (patent no. 356,775). Another in- portant traces of potters’ ingenuity and vention, protected by patent no. 356,773 shed more lights on the potter’s craft of (Figure 2) is about a potters’ mold used the 19th century America. in the process of “jiggering ware” and seems to be related to the above barrel. References Mayer claims it is adapted to the forma- Finlayson, R.W. : Portneuf Pottery and Other tion of potters’ vessels having Early Wares. Longman Canada Ltd., Don “contracted necks, expanded lower part Mills, Ont., 1972. or parts, and bases recessed or having an annular base-rim or foot.” Goldberg, David J.: Preliminary Notes on the It is of interest to know that, a Pioneer Potters and Potteries of Trenton, New Jersey. Trenton Museum Society, Trenton, few years before, C. B. Ribon, in the NJ, 1983, revised 1998. State of Bolivar, Columbia, had tackled a similar problem and was granted a Liebeknecht, William B.: “Joseph Mayer’s U.S. patent for a mold “for making Arsenal Pottery Dump, Part 3: Cut Sponge earthenware with concavo-convex sur- Decorated Ironstone China.” Trenton Pot- faces, and especially with recessed bot- teries, Vol.2, Issue 3 / 4, 2001. Page 4 Trenton Potteries Volume 8 Issue 1 Eastfield Village Ceramics Workshops Eastfield Village, in Rensselaer • Josiah Wedgwood, Master Potter County, New York, is offering their and Marketing Genius. From his ex- annual ceramics workshop. This periments to create new bodies and year’s topic is British Ceramics: The glazes, to his ability to secure royal Development of Technical Genius in the contracts for his pottery, Josiah Wedg- British Ceramic Industry 1650-1850. wood was one of England’s most im- The workshop runs from June 22 to portant and influential potters of the June 24 . For more information see 18th century. Nancy Ramage, professor of www.greatamericancraftsmen.org. art history at Ithaca College, author and lecturer on 18th century pottery, especially Lectures and Demonstrations include: Wedgwood. • Beer Shops and Bread Riots. The • The Influence of Chinese Export changes in technology, including the Porcelain on British Ceramics in the (limited) introduction of steam power 18th to early 19th Century. Traces the and the increasing mechanization of use of Chinese designs after the devel- making processes, did not come about opment of porcelain in Britain (1740s), without a huge impact on the way of the role of the East India Company in life of the ordinary working potters – providing Chinese Export porcelain for men, women and children. This lec- the upper class, factories who provided ture looks at some of the changes in matchings and entire tea and dinner the working and home life of the services in the Chinese style to an ever Georgian and early Victorian potters increasing public demand, with an em- including child labor, the rise of the phasis on the prominent role played by unions and food riots. Miranda Josiah Spode. Connie Rogers, General Goodby, Keeper of Ceramics, the Potteries Editor of the “Transferware Collector’s Museum, Stoke on Trent, UK. Club Database of Transfer-printing pat- • From Clay to Glost Oven. This terns c. 1780-1900”; author and lecturer. talk covers the processes involved in • The Rise and Fall of Slip. Slip the many phases of pottery produc- decoration on utilitarian earthenwares tion from the raw state to the final rose to extraordinary heights of inven- glaze firing until the late 20th century. tiveness during the 1770-1840 period, It includes a section on the process of then began a long, slow slide into bat and transfer printing. Robert Cope- oblivion. Rickard explores some of the land, author and former historian of the more creative uses in which fluid clay Spode Factory and noted member of the was used to make everyday objects family that ran Spode for over 175 years. visually exciting. Jonathan Rickard, au- • The Development of Lathe Turn- thor, collector and independent scholar spe- ing in the Potteries from the 18th cializing in 18th and 19th century mocha Century to the mid 19th Century.