Bottle
RetailerSold by
Southmayd & Boardman
MakerMade by
Unknown
Datelate 19th century
MediumMechanically-molded stoneware with a salt glaze and brown slip glaze
DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (height x diameter): 6 3/4 x 2 1/2in. (17.1 x 6.4cm)
ClassificationsCeramics
Credit LineConnecticut Museum of Culture and History collection
DescriptionSmall stoneware bottle with a plain tapered rim, angular shoulder, cylindrical body, and flat bottom. The bottle is glazed on the outside with a salt glaze, and on the interior with a brown slip glaze, or Albany-type glaze. To one side, beneath the shoulder, is the impressed retailer's mark, "SOUTHMAYD/ &/ BOARDMANS/ JAPAN BLACKING". There are several imperfections in the surface of the bottle, especially in the glaze immediately below the mark. There is one small chip in the rim.
Object number1950.306.0
MarkingsTo one side, beneath the shoulder, is the impressed retailer's mark, "SOUTHMAYD/ &/ BOARDMANS/ JAPAN BLACKING".InscribedThe town name, "Middletown/ Conn", is hand-written in pencil on the bottom of the bottle.NotesContents/Historical Note: This bottle held "Japan Blacking" a type of black varnish, and would have been used in the later nineteenth century. Dark black varnishes were used to decorate American furniture beginning in the early eighteenth century. "Japanning" as it was known, imitated Japanese styles of decorating furniture, and consisted of a black background with lighter toned scenes on top, either painted flat or built up with gesso. The Japanese influence on the American decorative and fine arts revived in the late nineteenth century with the Aesthetic and Japonisme (or Japonism) movements, after Japanese ports reopened to trade with the West in 1854. (Hunt 2/11/2005)Subject Terms
On View
Not on view
