A stained and cracked brightly painted plate at our local flea market was less than spectacular, but the unexpected mark on the back connected it to an important New Orleans importer (fig. 1). It was impressed “HENDERSON WALTON & CO. / IMPORTES / NEW ORLEANS” (fig. 2). This mark was from a partnership that had lasted only from 1834 to 1836, and it could be the first impressed mark and painted piece from this partnership. I gave the dealer twenty dollars for the plate.
Feedback from the online version of this article demonstrated that it was neither the first impressed Henderson, Walton and Co. mark recorded nor the first of these marks on a painted piece.[1] Rather, this plate and two other vessels show the variety of painted wares available in the mid-1830s for the American market. The colors ranged from the older earth tones that first appeared in the 1790s on pearlware to the bright chrome colors used to paint bold Persian-style patterns on whiteware beginning in the 1830s. On both, the designs are executed in bold Persian styles covering much of the vessel’s surface, in fine sprig styles leaving much of the surface white, or in simple floral designs falling between these extremes.
Hill and Henderson and successor companies were active in New Orleans from the 1820s into the 1860s as importers and wholesale dealers in earthenware, glass, and china for the country trade, supplying crates of assorted wares to stores all over the South and the Midwest.[2] They have been the subject of study by archaeologists and collectors because a number of vessels have been found that have their printed or impressed importers’ marks.[3] Marks from these companies have been found on pieces at sites in Arkansas, California, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, and elsewhere.[4] The four Henderson partnerships that marked their wares were Hill and Henderson; Henderson, Walton and Co.; Henderson and Gaines; and Gaines and Relf. These partnerships cover the years 1822 to 1877. (See Table 1)[5]
The Henderson partnerships are significant for researchers and collectors because their long-lived history has been documented, and, unlike most of their competitors, their imported wares are marked. These marks can in turn be used to date the pots on which they are found. Distribution of their marks from archaeological sites provides information on the territorial reach of these New Orleans importers.
Importers’ marks from before the last quarter of the nineteenth century are rare, and they are not common after that period. A 1999 list of seventy importers’ marks sheds some light on their rarity.[6] The importers were concentrated in New York (twenty-one), Boston (eight), and Philadelphia (eight), and they account for almost 52 percent of those known to have their company name on vessels. The other forty-seven importers are distributed among thirty-three cities. Of those in the deep South, only Charleston, South Carolina, and New Orleans are listed as having importers’ marks.[7] Thus, researchers are fortunate that a sequence of New Orleans importers had their names on wares from a very early period.
Davenport is the only known potter placing Henderson marks on its wares. Henderson marks also occur on ceramics without makers’ marks—as, for example, the transfer-printed Millenium [sic] pattern. Although there are few surviving Davenport records for this period, marks on antique pieces and on archaeological fragments provide ample evidence of a business relationship.[8] The earliest importer marks on Davenport ceramics are by Hill and Henderson (act. 1822–1834).
Painted Patterns with Henderson Marks
Henderson marks also have been found on undecorated and minimally decorated wares, such as white ironstone and green and blue shell-edged vessels. Marked painted wares are important because few from the early nineteenth century are marked and little systematic work has been done on their dating. A major change in painted ware technology and style occurs at about the same time as the 1834–1836 Henderson, Walton and Co. period. During the early 1830s underglaze chrome red, light green, and black colors appear for the first time, as do sprig and bold floral patterns.[9] Documents as well as marked painted wares can help to date the brighter color palette and new floral styles.
An 1835 Henderson, Walton and Co. invoice to Sutherland, Menefee and Co. of Santa Anna, Texas, includes painted pitchers, teapots, sugars, and creamers.[10] Marked examples now exist of bold Persian and sprig-painted styles on whitewares as well as of earlier floral patterns painted in earth tones on pearlware.
The painted floral pattern on the Henderson, Walton and Co. plate consists of the bright color palette of red and green with black stems on a whiteware body (fig. 3), which contrasts with the muted earth tones painted on pearlware. The name for this bright color palette was “Persian painted,” a term used in potters’ price lists, invoices, and correspondence dating from the 1830s through the 1860s. The pattern covers most of the plate’s surface, in contrast to small sprig floral patterns.
A painted pearlware sherd with a Henderson mark found in Mississippi during archaeological work by Coastal Environments, Inc., shows a floral pattern of indeterminate style in cobalt and mustard with drab olive leaves and a brown stem typical of painted pearlware dating to the late eighteenth century and the first quarter of the nineteenth.[11] The impressed mark, “[H]ENDE[RSON & . . . / IM[PORTERS] / NE[W ORLEANS]” appears identical to the mark on the Persian painted plate. It is impossible to tell whether the second partner’s name is Walton or Gaines, but the fragment dates to 1834 or later since the partnership name on the mark is either Henderson, Walton and Co. or Henderson and Gaines, not the earlier Hill and Henderson.
A saucer from Washington, Arkansas, with sprig-painted blue cornflower decoration is marked “Henderson Walton & Co. / Importers / New Orleans,” similar in mark and date to the painted plate reported here.[12] Henderson, Walton and Co. marks on these three painted wares mean that bold Persian and sprig painting styles both date at least as early as 1834– 1836. This short-lived Henderson partnership was importing not only the floral patterns painted in earth tones and the minimalist sprig patterns but also the new chrome colors in bold Persian painted style. We would be interested to hear of other pieces marked by New Orleans importers.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to thank the following colleagues for sharing information on Henderson marked pieces: Skip Stewart-Abernathy, Ryan Gray, Sara and Thurston Hahn, Christopher Lintz, John Penman, and Jay Stottman.
Amy C. Earls, Book and Exhibition Reviews Editor, Ceramics in America;trentonpots@yahoo.com
George L. Miller, Historical Archaeologist, URS Corporation; george_miller@urscorp.com
