Churn |
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Object Description
| Brief description | Stoneware churn, Charles Hermann and Co., Milwaukee, 1856-1870. |
| Object name | Churn |
| Maker | Charles Hermann and Company, 1856-1886 |
| Date | 1856-1870 |
| Dimensions | 18"H x 8 1/2" base diam. |
| Materials and techniques | Wheel-thrown salt-glazed stoneware |
| Marks | Maker's mark impressed in oval and highlighted in cobalt blue glaze: "C. Hermann & Co./ Milwaukee;" five-gallon capacity mark hand-drawn in cobalt blue glaze |
| Original location | Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin |
| Current location | Kenosha, Kenosha County, Wisconsin |
| Description | Ovoid tan-bodied salt-glazed stoneware butter churn. Two applied lug handles highlighted in cobalt blue glaze. Turned lid. The cobalt blue flowers were applied using a method called slip-trailing--the use of a dispenser to pour on thin lines of slip (liquid clay). Interior coated with dark brown slip. |
| History |
Milwaukee's waterfront location and its role as a regional marketplace made the city an ideal site for the large-scale production of durable and affordable salt-glazed stoneware. In 1856, Swiss immigrant Charles Hermann established the largest and longest-lived stoneware manufactory in the city. As Hermann's dock workers shoveled tons of clay brought by boat from Ohio and Illinois, his potters and kiln operators crafted utilitarian wares such as bottles, churns, crocks and jars for sale throughout the region. Early Hermann stoneware typically was stamped with the company name and adorned with relatively simple cobalt blue glaze decoration, usually flowers or birds. Later examples were usually unadorned, featuring straight-sided walls and stenciled rather than impressed maker's marks. In 1882, Hermann entered a partnership with his stepson Louis M. Pierron (b. 1853) who became sole owner of the company in 1886. Hermann died in Milwaukee in 1892. Milwaukee resident William George Bruce grew up near the Hermann pottery, and his reminiscences of life in the early days of the city include a vivid description of its operations. Bruce wrote: "An army of men was employed to model jugs and jars on revolving discs operated by foot power . . . The raw clay was brought in schooners from an Ohio port. These schooners brought their cargoes up to the nearby river dock. By means of shovels and wheelbarrows, the clay was transported from the vessel to the pottery . . . The pottery personnel proved as interesting as was the industry itself. The potters were German, who hailed from various parts of Germany. There were Pomeranians and Mecklenburgers from the North, Bavarians, Badensers, and Swabians from the South." |
| Sources | "Memoirs of William George Bruce" Wisconsin Magazine of History 16, no. 4 (1933), p. 374 (available online from the Wisconsin Historical Society): http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/u?/wmh,28475; Robert G. Carroon, "The Pottery Industry in 19th Century Milwaukee" Historical Messenger of the Milwaukee County Historical Society 26, no. 1 (1970); Marion Bruhn, "Milwaukee Stoneware-The Elusive Pottery" Ohio Antique Review (June 1979), p. 74-75; Kenneth Dearolf, Wisconsin Folk Pottery in the Collection of the Kenosha Public Museum (1986). |
| Related objects | Two similar Hermann churns with cobalt decoration are among the collections of the Kenosha Public Museum (object # 72-132) and the Fort Winnebago Surgeons' Quarters (object # 06.66.2): http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/u?/wda,1207 and http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/u?/wda,1877 |
| Owner | Kenosha Public Museum |
| Object # | 74-289 |
| Rights | (c) 2007 by the Kenosha Public Museum. Contact the owner for more information. http://www.kenosha.org/museum/ |
| Digital collection | Wisconsin Decorative Arts Database |
| Digital identifier | KPM079 |
| Digital format | XML |
| Type | Physical object |
| Keywords | Ceramics; Pottery; Stoneware; Churn; Equipment; Tools and equipment; Furnishings and equipment; Food Processing Tools and Equipment |
| Date digitized | 2008-03-26 |
| Date modified | 2010-11-22 |
Description
| Object name | Churn |
| Rights | (c) 2007 by the Kenosha Public Museum. Contact the owner for more information. http://www.kenosha.org/museum/ |
| Digital collection | Wisconsin Decorative Arts Database |
| Digital identifier | KPM079a |
| Digital format | image/jpeg |
| Type | Physical object |
| Date digitized | 2008-03-26 |
| Date modified | 2008-03-27 |
