Laura C. Keim with David G. Orr
Indian at Stenton: A Trail Left in Slip on a Redware Bowl

Figure 1

Presentation basin, southeastern Pennsylvania (likely Philadelphia), ca. 1730–1760. Trailed slipware. D. 14". (Courtesy, The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania at Stenton; photo, Gavin Ashworth.) This reconstructed bowl was recovered in 1982 at Stenton, James Logan’s plantation (see fig. 2), by archaeologist Barbara Liggett.

Figure 2

Stenton, James Logan’s country house and plantation, built 1723–1730. (Photo, The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania at Stenton.) The basin illustrated in fig. 1 was found in a cistern behind the home.

Figure 3

Detail of the basin illustrated in fig. 1. This slip-decorated Native American figure, with painted torso and tall rifle, represents Sa Ga Yeath Qua Pieth Tow, chief of the Maguas.

Figure 4

John Simon, Sa Ga Yeath Qua Pieth Tow, King of the Maguas, 1710. Mezzotint. 16 5/16 x 10 1/4". (Courtesy, Winterthur Museum, museum purchase.) This mezzotint is one of a set of four, after full-length oil portraits commissioned of John Verelst by Queen Anne.

Figure 5

The murals on the stair landing in Archibald Macpheadris’s house (now known as the Warner House), ca. 1718–1720. (Courtesy, Warner House Association; photo, Richard Haynes.) Possibly the work of Nehemiah Partridge, the murals served as a reminder of the Iroquois promise in 1710 to be faithful British allies. 

Figure 6

Basin, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, early nineteenth century. Redware. H. 3 1/4", D. 10". Inscribed on exterior base: “Jos Rupp Jr / Ephrata / Lanc Co / Penn.” (Courtesy, Winterthur Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Orrin W. June.) The inscription alternatively suggests that the Stenton bowl could have been made on the Pennsylvania frontier.