Glazed red earthenware inkstand, David Haring (1801-1871) Nockamixon Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, dated 1852

Back incised (translated from German): Black as ink, red as blood. A rash promise or a bad woman's kiss, Heinrich L Haring, Written in the year 1852 November 13

Together with an ink bottle, unidentified artist, 1835-1860, glazed red earthenware, inscribed on underside in slip: W.  2 pieces.

 

Inkstand:
George Horace Lorimer, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Bernard and S. Dean Levy, New York, 1977

Ink Bottle:
James and Nancy Glazer, Villanova, Pennsylvania, 1966

On loan to IBM from the George Horace Lorimer Collection, c. 1942-1977

American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum, p. 134, figs. 94A-B

Some small rim chips at the edge of teh ink bottle and sander reservoir.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Literacy and the ability to write were highly regarded among most Pennsylvania Germans. The skills not only allowed the pious to read the Bible and other religious texts but also enabled individuals to keep essential records and calculations required by the farm cycle, business correspondence, and family affairs. Most children received training in penmanship from their schoolmasters, who often were highly skilled in writing and decorative calligraphy. Parochial schools of the German Reformed and Lutheran congregations, as well as seasonal classrooms established by the smaller, minority groups such as the Mennonites, Moravians, Dunkers, and Amish, provided disciplined study during the short school terms scheduled between planting and harvest. The scrivener, usually the traveling schoolmaster and clergyman, supplied decorated certificates of birth and baptism, bookplates for religious texts and songbooks, and the cherished rewards of merit for accomplished students.

This decorated earthenware inkwell and ink bottle provide historical witness to these community traditions. Both were produced by Pennsylvania German craftsmen and follow contemporary forms manufactured in metal and glass. Similar pewter, tin, or brass writing stands, constructed of rolled sheet stock soldered and engraved with decorative ornament or inscriptions, were both imported and produced locally and may have served as a design prototype for the inkstand, whose structure resembles these metal examples.¹ The potter constructed it using traditional slabbuilding, in which flat sheets of clay were cut and joined together with wet slip clay. The pottery founded by David Haring in 1827 is known to have produced a number of different forms that incorporated slabbuilt techniques. Some of Haring's tools survive and include the coggle wheels, stamping tools, and rolling pins necessary to have produced and decorated this example.²

Blown and molded glass bottles became commonplace receptacles for commercial inks in America by 1830 and may have inspired the highnecked, flat-shouldered form of this clay example that combines slabbuilt and wheel-thrown techniques. The tulip and circle motifs and the dot patterning in opaque yellow and black slip on this unattributed ink bottle are similar to the slip decoration seen in works by a number of potters working in the Moravian communities of Bucks and Montgomery Counties of Pennsylvania during the period. -J.L.L.

¹ In addition, several earlier earthenware examples made in the Staffordshire area of England c. 1700-1750 and traditional tin-glazed examples from Holland are known. One English example, with similar hunter and deer motifs, is in the collection of the 1704 Brinton House, Chadds Ford, Pa.
² Garvan, Collection, pp. 76-77.