Jug |
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Object Description
| Brief description | Stoneware jug, Charles Hermann and Co., Milwaukee, 1856-1870. |
| Object name | Jug |
| Maker | Charles Hermann and Company, 1856-1886 |
| Date | 1856-1870 |
| Dimensions | 13 1/2"H x 9 3/8" diam. |
| Materials and techniques | Wheel-thrown salt-glazed stoneware |
| Marks | Maker's mark impressed in oval, near mouth: "C. Hermann & Co./ Milwaukee" highlighted in cobalt blue glaze; impressed two-gallon capacity mark |
| Original location | Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin |
| Current location | Kenosha, Kenosha County, Wisconsin |
| Description | Ovoid salt-glazed stoneware jug with rolled rim and applied strap handle. 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). |
| 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 | Another Hermann jug with slip-trailed cobalt glaze is part of the collections of the Milwaukee Public Museum (object # E37787/9825): http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/u?/wda,623 |
| Owner | Kenosha Public Museum |
| Object # | 72-59 |
| 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 | KPM067 |
| Digital format | XML |
| Type | Physical object |
| Keywords | Ceramics; Pottery; Stoneware; Jug (vessel); Vessel (container); Container (receptacle); Furnishings and equipment; Food Processing Tools and Equipment; Food Service Tools and Equipment |
| Date digitized | 2008-03-26 |
| Date modified | 2010-11-22 |
Description
| Object name | Jug |
| 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 | KPM067a |
| Digital format | image/jpeg |
| Type | Physical object |
| Date digitized | 2008-03-26 |
| Date modified | 2008-03-26 |
