Images(4)

Flask

Date1780-1800

Attributed to Rudolph Christ

Maker Moravian Pottery

OriginAmerica, North Carolina, Salem

MediumLead-glazed earthenware

DimensionsOH: 5 1/4" ; OW: 4 1/4"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2005.900.2

DescriptionPress-molded circular bottle or flask with geometric floral decoration, covered in an olive green oxide and lead-glazed, molded, applied base and neck. The molded decoration on the sides of this bottle is reminiscent of that found on stove tiles produced in Salem and Bethabara.Label TextMoravian potters working in the Wachovia tract produced bottles and flasks from the earliest days of settlement. Archaeology in Bethabrara uncovered a biscuit ware bottle likely dating from the late 1750s or 1760 and probably by potter Gottfried Aust.

Most of the forms related to the floral example appear to be from the middle period (1774-1829) of the Salem pottery. An aqua-colored faience ring bottle and a nearly identical example with a green glaze are strikingly similar to the floral example. Another variant with solid sides and molded decoration in the form of an eagle is in a private collection in North Carolina.

Bottles are listed in the 1789 inventory of the Salem pottery with values ranging from one shilling to two shillings six pence. Those with solid sides, feet and slender necks may have been the type described as "sack bottles" in the 1796 inventory. This designation suggests that they were intended for spirits.ProvenanceObtained by Luke Beckerdite from a man in North Carolina.