Pitcher
Dateca. 1795
Maker
Johann Gottlob Krause
MediumLead-glazed earthenware
DimensionsOverall: 8 x 4 x 4 5/8in. (20.3 x 10.2 x 11.7cm)
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number2008-121
DescriptionBaluster-form jug with a narrow foot, pulled pouring lip, and a simple strap handle.Label TextJohann Gottlob Krause was a Moravian potter living and working within the Moravian communities established in Salem and Bethabara, North Carolina during the eighteenth century. Krause served as an apprentice to master potter Gottfried Aust in Salem from 1773 until April, 1781. Aust raised Krause as his adopted son, but Krause was not happy with his wages as a potter and left the pottery to become a mason and brick maker. By 1785 he was ready to return to the pottery trade, but it wasn't until Aust died in 1789 that the leaders of the Moravian community allowed this to happen. After Aust's death, Rudolph Christ, master potter at Bethabara was made master of the Salem pottery and Krause went to Bethabara to take over Christ's pottery. Krause continued his masonry trade during this period and it is likely that many of the pieces associated with the Bethabara pottery during the 1790s were produced by the slave Peter Oliver who was owned by Krause. Most of the pottery produced under Krause's leadership was utilitarian comprised primarily of milk pans, chamber pots, and jugs.ProvenanceLuke Beckerdite, Williamsburg, Virginia
