Thomas Toft. Bernard Pallisy. Daniel Bailey. Everybody knows Toft and Pallisy. Two masters of their craft. Bailey was a small time redware potter from Colonial Massachusetts. But like Toft and Pallisy, Daniel Bailey was a trailblazer.
Daniel showed promise early, training at his father’s pottery shop. By 16, he was a full fledged potter. The potters around him in Newburyport north of Boston made the usual “potts and panns” of the day. But Daniel tried his hand at tableware. At teacups. Plates. Serving dishes. Things you might use in the parlor with company.
Redware hadn’t been used this way. It belonged in the barn and kitchen. It was the ‘tupperware’ of the day. The American Revolution’s goal of self sufficiency, showcasing native talent in the face of embargo and blockade, was about to begin. Daniel Bailey saw the tide coming.
Like Toft and Paillsy, Bailey was swamped by events beyond his control. Believing he saw a chance to make it on his own, Daniel moved to Gloucester in 1750. James Gardner, the local potter there and friend of the Bailey family, had just passed away. The town needed a potter. Daniel married a Gloucester belle. Then cholera hit. Their son, Daniel Jr., died. The cholera panic caused business to wither. Daniel retreated to his dad’s shop in Newburyport, taking the reins when his father retired a couple years later.
Toft, Pallisy and Bailey. Eventually others followed their lead. A ‘Pallisy school’ assured periodic revivals of “Pallisy ware” for the next two centuries. The slipware techniques pioneered by Toft spread throughout England, and even held their own against the Staffordshire factory ware tidal wave. Several shires produced both slip and machine lathed ware for many years. And on these shores, redware contributed to the cause of 1776…
They each, for a time and in their own unique ways, pushed the envelope. But there’s an ironic catch to being at the cutting edge. Toft and Paillisy made all the history books but died paupers. Daniel Bailey faded to obscurity in relative comfort.
Readings:
Early New England Potters and Their Wares. Lura Woodside Watkins. Harvard Univ Press/Cambridge MA. 1968.
The Art of the Potter. Diana and J. Garrison Stradling. Main Street-Universe Books/New York. 1977.
This Day in Pottery History 