Dedham Pottery
Encyclopedia
Dedham Pottery was a pottery company opened by the Robertson Family in Dedham, Massachusetts
during the American arts & crafts movement that operated between 1896 and 1943. It was known for its high-fire stoneware characterized by a controlled and very fine crackle glaze with thick cobalt boarder designs.
visited the Centennial Exposition
in Philadelphia - an early world’s fair - and viewed pottery from China with a blood-red crackled glaze that would inspire him to create his own version. In 1867, the Robertson family founded their first company in Chelsea, Massachusetts
on the corner of Marginal and Willow Streets(6), a prelude to Dedham Pottery, called Chelsea Pottery U.S.. The Boston Daily Globe reported on Monday, July, 30th 1894, that "about 10 acres of land at East Dedham, was sold for $6,500 to the Chelsea Pottery Company" and the pottery company would be moving from Chelsea to Dedham, "just as soon as proper buildings can be erected and other necessary work done." Chelsea Pottery U.S. closed in 1895 and, just as promised, the company moved on to Dedham, MA where Hugh C. Robertson
, a fifth-generation Scottish potter, opened Dedham Pottery in 1896.
1896-1928: Square blue stamp with DEDHAM POTTERY printed over a rabbit; impressed foreshortened rabbit beneath.
1929-1943: REGISTERED added under standard Dedham Pottery stamp; two impressed foreshortened rabbits beneath.
Rarely the decorator would add his initials, a date, or the initials of the purchaser but these instances were rare and therefor, for collecting purposes, valuable.
Maude Rose Davenport a very skilled decorator at Dedham Pottery between 1904-1928 signed her work with a rebus, a small 5mm circle in the boarder of her designs.
Hugh C. Robertson sometimes signed his decorations with a square.
Dedham, Massachusetts
Dedham is a town in and the county seat of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,729 at the 2010 census. It is located on Boston's southwest border. On the northwest it is bordered by Needham, on the southwest by Westwood and on the southeast by...
during the American arts & crafts movement that operated between 1896 and 1943. It was known for its high-fire stoneware characterized by a controlled and very fine crackle glaze with thick cobalt boarder designs.
History
In 1876, family member Hugh C. RobertsonHugh C. Robertson
Hugh C. Robertson, , was an American studio potter who is the first recognized potter to have worked with nonrepresentational ceramic decoration glazes. Robertson apprenticed at the Jersey City Potter in 1860. In 1868, he started work in his father's shop that opened in 1866 in Chelsea, Massachusetts...
visited the Centennial Exposition
Centennial Exposition
The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. It was officially...
in Philadelphia - an early world’s fair - and viewed pottery from China with a blood-red crackled glaze that would inspire him to create his own version. In 1867, the Robertson family founded their first company in Chelsea, Massachusetts
Chelsea, Massachusetts
Chelsea is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States directly across the Mystic River from the city of Boston. It is the smallest city in Massachusetts in land area, and the 26th most densely populated incorporated place in the country.-History:...
on the corner of Marginal and Willow Streets(6), a prelude to Dedham Pottery, called Chelsea Pottery U.S.. The Boston Daily Globe reported on Monday, July, 30th 1894, that "about 10 acres of land at East Dedham, was sold for $6,500 to the Chelsea Pottery Company" and the pottery company would be moving from Chelsea to Dedham, "just as soon as proper buildings can be erected and other necessary work done." Chelsea Pottery U.S. closed in 1895 and, just as promised, the company moved on to Dedham, MA where Hugh C. Robertson
Hugh C. Robertson
Hugh C. Robertson, , was an American studio potter who is the first recognized potter to have worked with nonrepresentational ceramic decoration glazes. Robertson apprenticed at the Jersey City Potter in 1860. In 1868, he started work in his father's shop that opened in 1866 in Chelsea, Massachusetts...
, a fifth-generation Scottish potter, opened Dedham Pottery in 1896.
Patterns
The most common and recognizable design is a repeating crouching rabbit referred to as "the Dedham rabbit". The rabbits crouch on the ground with their ears back and in between each rabbit stands a vegetable stock which a former workman has claimed to be a brussel sprout(7). There are generally 10 rabbits in total and are spaced out evenly in a clockwise rotation. The Dedham rabbit design had been drawn by Miss Alice Morse and J. Lindon Smith of the Museum of Fine Arts School in Boston. Other designs featured elephants, dolphins, polar bears, chicks, swans, turtles, ducks, butterflies, lilies, clover, and mushrooms. During its span of production, Dedham Pottery created over fifty patterns for dinnerware and serving pieces.Markings
1892-1895: C.P.U.S. (Chelsea Pottery U.S.) impressed inside a clover leaf.1896-1928: Square blue stamp with DEDHAM POTTERY printed over a rabbit; impressed foreshortened rabbit beneath.
1929-1943: REGISTERED added under standard Dedham Pottery stamp; two impressed foreshortened rabbits beneath.
Rarely the decorator would add his initials, a date, or the initials of the purchaser but these instances were rare and therefor, for collecting purposes, valuable.
Maude Rose Davenport a very skilled decorator at Dedham Pottery between 1904-1928 signed her work with a rebus, a small 5mm circle in the boarder of her designs.
Hugh C. Robertson sometimes signed his decorations with a square.