Crock
PeriodCirca 1818 - 1832
Place MadeNew Jersey, U.S.A.
MediumSalt glazed stoneware
Dimensions11 × 8.5 in. (27.9 × 21.6 cm)
InscribedWritten in black marker on underside of base "P24 / EATON AND / STOUT / CIRCA / 1818 - 45 / SOUTH AMBOY."
ClassificationsStoneware
Credit LineMarshall P. Blankarn Purchasing Fund, 1961
Object number1979.528.46
DescriptionA salt-glazed stoneware crock, in a slightly orange-tinged yellow clay color, with a bulbous ovoid body tapering to a relatively narrow rimless base, and wide thick-rimmed mouth. A pair of strap handles are affixed to right and left sides just below the crock's rim. Simple grooved bands are lightly incised into the clay body approximately three inches below the rim. Bold splashes of cobalt blue glaze are dabbed along both handle joins. A large freeform foliate or leafy spray decorates the crock's front. The inside of the crock is glazed with dark brown slip, with drips and splashes of the slip visible on the outside of the crock. One the opposite side, the pottery's name "EATON & STOUT" is pressed into the clay.NotesThe story of the the Eaton & Stout stoneware pottery is similar to many potteries of the late 18th and early 19th century, including a web of interconnection with other Middlesex County potters and potteries, land purchases, mortgages, lawsuits, and partnership changes. Jacob Eaton was born in Connecticut in 1782, and by the early 1820s was working in the South River/Old Bridge area of Middlesex County as a potter. Jacob Eaton appeared in the 1850 Federal Census, with 65 year old wife Jane Eaton, living in North Brunswick, Middlesex County, listed as a "Stone Potter," with real estate valued at $1,000. Samuel Stout was born sometime around 1800 or so, named after his father and Revolutionary War veteran Samuel Stout. The younger Stout married Adolphina Kleine, adopted daughter of Frederick Adolphus Kleine, in 1829. Samuel Stout may have died in or around 1841, as Adolphina herself signed a quitclaim on her husband's portion of a land purchase in early 1842. At some point, Eaton partnered with Samuel Stout and men ran a pottery on property owned by Frederick Adolphus Kleine. Kleine died in 1829, and his estate inventory included a mention of "one Lease of Jacob Eaton & Co." Eaton and Stout were apparently concerned about the stability of their location after Kleine's death, and in 1831 purchased a half-interest in the Bissett Pottery located nearby, later purchasing the second half of the firm in 1835. The unpaid mortgage for the second half landed Eaton and Stout in court, with the property seized by the Middlesex County Sheriff. Eaton and Stout appear to have dissolved their partnership sometime around the late 1830s or early 1840s.
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