Three Traveller's Samples, circa 1885
Maker: W.E. Welding
Brantford, Ontario

Canadian Museum of Civilization
Cat. no. (Left to right) 978.111.49a-b; 980.111.104; 980.111.36a-b
Slide no. 17904

CANADIAN SALT-GLAZED STONEWARE

"Stone crocks and all that class," as an Ontario newspaper of 1867 wrote of Canadian potting, aptly summed up what was typically produced by Canadian potters of the period. Up until about mid-century, dark-bodied stoneware (storage vessels and other utilitarian articles) had been imported in large quantities from potters in England and Scotland.

Although there would still be importations in the years ahead, a change was beginning. Members of the Farrar family, potters from Vermont, had crossed the border and settled in St. Johns, Quebec, bringing with them their knowledge and experience of stoneware potting as it was carried out in New England.



Jug, circa 1865
Maker: Eberhard & Halm
Toronto, Ontario

Canadian Museum of Civilization
Cat. no. D-9238
Slide no. 17883



Five-Gallon Jug, circa 1880
Maker: Burns & Campbell
Toronto, Ontario

Canadian Museum of Civilization
Cat. no. 980.111.182
Photo S97-17894, CD2004-876



Three-Gallon Jug, circa 1858
Maker: George W. Farrar
St. Johns, Quebec

Canadian Museum of Civilization
Cat. no. 979.132.3
Photo S97-17883, CD2004-876

Other American potters settled in Ontario. These newcomers to Quebec and Ontario were the first to make salt-glazed stoneware in Canada. The clay they used, however, had to be brought in from the United States. Canadian clay with the necessary properties had not yet been discovered.



Jardinière, circa 1865
Maker: George I. Lazier
Picton, Ontario

Canadian Museum of Civilization
Cat. no. D-2237
Slide no. 18006

In the years that followed, stoneware potting increased in Canada and importations lessened. But the days of salt-glazed stoneware of this type were numbered. As the nineteenth century drew to its close, cheap glass storage vessels were beginning to take the place of the potters' product.

menugalleryglossaryconclusionsuggested readingcredits