Pitcher (Primary Title)
Attributed to, Chester Webster, American, 1799 - 1882 (Artist)
This vessel demonstrates the talents of potters active in the South during the 19th century. Although archaeological evidence indicates that Indigenous peoples were producing pottery from southern soil more than four thousand years ago, the region’s first efforts to produce European-style wares date to 1765–70. At about the same time that the famous English potter Josiah Wedgwood was importing the white clay called kaolin via his agent, Thomas Griffith, from the Cherokee Lands of North Carolina, John Bartlam established a pottery in Cain Hoy, near Charleston, South Carolina. Yet the consistent production of southern pottery by American artisans did not fully develop until the 19th century, when the rising costs of buying coastal land encouraged the migration of people south and west along the Great Wagon Road.
A pitcher by Chester Webster, who traveled to North Carolina from Connecticut, reveals the influence of European traditions on American production. Works by the famed “Bird and Fish Potter,” as Webster was known, reflect the legacy of German salt-glazed wares.
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