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 |
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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.
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.
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. |
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