Crock
PeriodCirca 1831
Place MadeSouth Amboy, New Jersey, U.S.A.
MediumSalt glazed stoneware
Dimensions9 × 9 in. (22.9 × 22.9 cm)
ClassificationsStoneware
Credit LineMarshall P. Blankarn Purchasing Fund, 1961
Object number1979.528.49
DescriptionAn ovoid crock, with body tapering to footless rim, two strap handles at the shoulders, incised bands around the shoulder line, and dark grayish brown body color with mottling due to long kiln firing. The crock's thick lip rim is warped from kiln firing, and the interior is entirely coated in dark brown Albany slip. On the front of the crock, a freeform floral sprig is rendered in dark blue cobalt glaze. On the front of the lip rim center is impressed "Humiston & Cummings / S. Amboy," with a splash of cobalt blue as a highlight.NotesThe Humiston and Cummings stoneware pottery is one of the many of which very little is known. Dozens of potteries were located in and around the South Amboy area during both the 18th and 19th centuries. Humiston, whose first name may be Horace, worked in partnership at various times with men named Stockwell and Warner (first names currently unknown). A man named Horace Humiston worked as a stoneware potter and can be placed in 1829 in Troy, New York. Stoneware potters were somewhat itinerant, with many moving from pottery to pottery and location to location in pursuit of their livelihoods.
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