10 - - Antiques & Auction News — October 4, 2019
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Thomas Chandler’s Pottery Production
McKissick Museum Of The University Of South Carolina Holds Innovative Exhibition
By Justin W. Thomas
Living in New England,
there are not that many
opportunities to see a lot of
19th-century stoneware from
the Edgefield District of South
Carolina, although I have
viewed some great examples
in museums such as the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
and the Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston.
The Edgefield District is
located in the western part of
the state near the Georgia
border, about 30 miles north
of Augusta. The area was
formed in 1785 and was pri-
marily engaged in agriculture
until a thriving pottery indus-
try was developed in the 19th
century. Both industries were
in some ways conjoined, see-
ing that some of the Edgefield
wares were manufactured for
farming and household utili-
tarian needs.
My interest in the
Edgefield wares probably
began in the early-2000s,
when I first purchased a copy
of Lura Woodside Watkins’
(1897-1982) book, “Early New
England Potters and Their
Wares.” Illustrated in the back
of the book is an Edgefield
stoneware face jug that was
found in Portsmouth, N.H., in
the early 20th century, now
owned by the National
Museum of American History
at the Smithsonian Institute in
A stoneware butter churn made by Thomas Chandler in Baltimore in 1829
(middle), the base inscribed “Thomas M. Chandler / Maker / Baltimore / August
12 / 1829.” One side of the churn is also dated “1829,” with the name “Mitchell
Chandler” inscribed above the date. Courtesy of the Museum of Early Southern
Decorative Arts.
My nephew, Jason, is holding the exhibit catalog, “Swag & Tassel: The
Innovative Stoneware of Thomas Chandler,” outside the McKissick Museum at
the University of South Carolina.
Harvest face vessel made in Edgefield in the Chandler style but possibly made
by an African-American potter, circa 1840-48. Courtesy of the McKissick
Museum / University of South Carolina.
Washington, D.C. Most of the
Edgefield face jugs in exis-
tence today are associated
with enslaved African-
American potters in the 1850s
and 1860s, but there does not
appear to be that sort of con-
nection in Portsmouth, even
though Samuel Marshall’s (no
birth record, d. 1749) pottery
in Portsmouth did employ
slaves before 1750. Their
involvement is recorded in
the book, “Black Portsmouth:
Three Centuries of African-
American Heritage.” “Adam
and Mercer were slaves of
Samuel Marshall who worked
in the pottery. They dug and
weathered the clay; they
milled and kneaded the clay;
they made the glaze; they
stacked the kiln; they stoked
the fire for the kiln; and addi-
tion to all this manual labor,
they turned pots on the wheel
themselves.”
Interestingly, this is not
the only example of Edgefield
pottery found in New England
through the years. Cape Cod
antiques dealer and former
art director of the Heritage
Museums and Gardens in
Sandwich, Mass., Brian Cullity
has acquired five different
face jugs and a large jar made
by Dave Drake (ca. 1801-75) in
New England over the last 20
to 30 years. Drake was an
enslaved African-American
potter who threw pots, jugs,
as well as other forms, and he
antiquesandauctionnews.
Southern Ceramics at the
Museum of Early Southern
Decorative Arts (MESDA) in
Winston-Salem, N.C. Among
the objects on display is a
churn made by Chandler that I
consider among the most sig-
nificant pieces of American
stoneware in existence today.
The churn depicts a landscape
scene with a farmhouse, an
outbuilding, a cow and a
This Edgefield, S.C., stoneware face woman churning butter, rep-
jug was found in Portsmouth, N.H., in resenting the Chandler family
the early 1900s. farm or homestead in Virginia.
Inscribed on the base of the
was also known for his litera- churn, “Thomas M. Chandler /
cy based on poems, dates and My niece, Alexis, is holding an Edgefield, S.C., stoneware jug that we found in Maker / Baltimore / August 12
signatures that adorn some of Cambridge, Mass., in August 2018. / 1829.” One side of the churn
the forms he made. All of the but Chandler seems to have for John Dwight (ca. 1637-1703) is also dated “1829,” with the
objects acquired by Cullity gravitated to only stoneware for a period and was one of name “Mitchell Chandler”
came from various contexts of production. England’s first 17th-century inscribed above the date.
ownership throughout New In time, Chandler devel- stoneware potters. Mitchell Chandler was
England. oped into an extraordinary I viewed a few examples of Thomas’ uncle, and Chandler
More recently, though, potter. In fact, he is thought to Chandler’s production in the likely made the churn as a
while visiting Boston in August have possibly been a descen- summer of 2018 while visiting memento for his aunt and
2018, my niece Alexis and I dant of John Chandler of the William C. and Susan S. uncle when he would return
found an Edgefield jug in an Fulham, England, who worked Mariner Collection of from Baltimore visiting the
antique and collectible mar- family estate in
ketplace in Cambridge. We Drummondtown. The churn
were told the jug was recently had descended through the
discovered in an old estate family until it was acquired a
within the Boston area. few years ago by the Mariners.
Afterwards, we visited the MFA According to an article
Boston and thought about the written by Philip Wingard for
jug that we had just found the 2013 issue of “Ceramics in
while viewing three Edgefield America,” titled, “From
face jugs, along with a huge Baltimore to the South
jar made by Drake that are all Carolina Backcountry: Thomas
on display in the museum’s Chandler’s Influence on 19th-
Art of the Americas Wing. Century Stoneware,” “Thomas
However, after reading Chandler left Baltimore in
about the Edgefield wares for 1829 and between 1829 and
many years and admiring 1832 may have traveled as an
objects that sold at auction in itinerant potter. In 1832, he
the South and Mid-Atlantic was in Albany, N.Y., where he
regions, I was thrilled to learn Here are magnificent examples of Chandler’s alkaline glazed stoneware with enlisted in the United State
last summer that an exhibit iron brushed and kaolin slip-decoration, as well as slip-script. Courtesy of the Army. The Army sent Chandler
had been assembled at the McKissick Museum / University of South Carolina. Continued on page 11
McKissick Museum at the
University of South Carolina in
Columbia by guest curator
Philip Wingard and project
director Saddler Taylor. The
exhibit highlights the wares
made by Thomas Chandler, an
influential white potter, who
is considered by many today
to be the most talented potter
employed in Edgefield. The
exhibition was assembled
from both private and muse-
um collections, more than 100
pieces, and took over 20 years
to complete.
I finally found the time to
visit the McKissick Museum
with my nephew, Jason, in
June 2019, and the Chandler
exhibit was more impressive
than I had ever imagined. We
were also pleasantly sur-
prised to find that a catalog
had been published to coin-
cide with the exhibit, and
wares made by different pot-
ters in Edgefield are displayed
in other areas of the museum.
Thomas Chandler’s
Stoneware
Born in Drummondtown
(now Accomack), Va., Thomas
Mitchell Chandler Jr. (1810-54)
learned the potter’s craft in
Baltimore, Md., when his fam-
ily moved to the city in 1817.
Chandler’s father, Thomas
Chandler Sr., was a Windsor
chair maker, and he bought
property that was located
near some of the potters in
Baltimore. Henry Remmey Sr.
lived next door, and other
potters like William Morgan,
whom Chandler worked with,
were located only a few
R048497
blocks away. Chandler was
exposed to a great deal of
potters during this period,
and his earliest known forms
represent this exposure in
Baltimore. There was also red
earthenware made in
Baltimore during this period,