Examples of Early Eastern Canadian Ceramics

A few useful examples to compare

Eastern Canadian ceramics cover a wide area and more than one tradition. These examples focus on Quebec and the Maritimes, beginning with nineteenth-century household pottery and continuing into the early studio-pottery movement. They are a starting point for looking closely, rather than a complete history of the region’s ceramics.

For each piece, separate three questions: where was it made, who made or decorated it, and when? A Canadian place name can refer to a seller rather than a pottery. Research on nineteenth-century importers’ marks documents this distinction for dealers in Halifax, Saint John and Quebec City. Canadian importers’ marks, Material Culture Review.

Brown-and-white plate with a floral border and a steamship marked British America in a waterfront scene — Imported ware: an English-made plate dated 1830 associated with the steamship British America, displayed at Château Ramezay in Montréal. Its Canadian subject does not establish Canadian manufacture. Image: Daderot / Wikimedia Commons · CC0 (public domain). Resized and compressed for web.

A nineteenth-century earthenware bowl from Quebec

Quebec’s archaeological reference collection includes a nearly complete bowl or terrine associated with the workshop of Joseph II Bélangers at Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu. The catalogue gives the bowl’s production range as 1838–1888 and identifies wheel-thrown coarse earthenware with a colourless glaze. At 24.5 centimetres across the rim, it is an ordinary working vessel rather than a display piece.

The important evidence is its recovery from a pottery-waste pit at the workshop. That gives the attribution a firmer basis than simply finding a similar-looking bowl in Quebec. Quebec heritage collection: Bélangers bowl or terrine.

An original diagram of the catalogue dimensions for bowl BkFg-5-2B-2. The outline is schematic, not a reconstruction of its exact shape. No source photograph is reproduced. Image: Fredericton Antique Show; measurements from RPCQ · Original diagram © Fredericton Antique Show.

Farrar stoneware from Iberville

A surviving jug fragment in the Place-Royale reference collection bears an impressed E. L. Farrar mark naming Iberville, Quebec. The catalogue places its production after 1881 and before 1918. It describes a dark grey stoneware body, a brown Albany coating inside and a salt-glazed exterior.

This is a useful comparison for the combination of mark, body and surface. The date range belongs to this documented object; it should not be applied automatically to every Farrar jug. Quebec heritage collection: Farrar jug fragment.

Reproduced notice dated St. Johns, April 13, 1857, announcing the rebuilt pottery and partnership of E. L. and G. W. Farrar — An 1857 notice announces E. L. & G. W. Farrar’s rebuilt pottery at St. Johns, before the family’s later move to Iberville. Historical context for the Farrar name, not a photograph of the Iberville jug. Image: E. L. & G. W. Farrar notice / Historical Canadian Glass Plus · Public domain (1857 notice). Resized and compressed for web.

Cap Rouge pottery in Quebec

The Cap Rouge jug pictured above is dated 1875–1880 and was photographed at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Its raised decoration and glaze provide another nineteenth-century example to compare with the household bowl and stoneware discussed above.

Detail of the raised leaf decoration and brown glaze on the Cap Rouge pottery jug — Detail of the Cap Rouge jug shown above, Quebec City, 1875–1880. Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Image: Daderot / Wikimedia Commons · CC0 (public domain). Detail crop, resized and compressed for web.

Mary Allison Doull’s Island-clay pottery

On Prince Edward Island, Mary Allison Doull turned increasingly to pottery around the late 1920s. At Cape Traverse she prepared clay from the nearby shore and made pieces by hand or with moulds. The PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation illustrates her work, including the base of a vase signed “M.D. PEI.”

These early studio pieces belong to a later period than the Quebec household wares above. The collection is particularly helpful because it shows a maker’s mark alongside the pottery and biographical evidence, rather than treating red clay alone as proof of Island manufacture. PEI Museum: Mary Allison Doull collection.

On this photographed base, the incised initials and PEI lettering sit inside the foot, while the pencilled ownership wording runs around it. The exposed orange-red clay contrasts with the blue-green glaze at the edge. Those separate marks should be recorded separately: a maker’s inscription and a later ownership note are different kinds of evidence.

Orange-red base of a blue-green Doull vase, with incised MD PEI lettering and a pencilled Aunt Mary Doull note. — Mary Allison Doull vase base, HF.12.08.07. © PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation. Image: PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation, HF.12.08.07 · Copyright retained — source terms.

Alice Egan Hagen in Nova Scotia

Alice Egan Hagen’s work provides another early studio-pottery comparison. Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery’s online collection includes a glazed earthenware coil pot, listed as undated, and describes her use of wheel throwing, moulds and hand-building. Avoid assigning a precise year to a similar object just from its shape. MSVU Art Gallery: Hagen’s pottery techniques and objects.

The coil pot’s rounded walls retain pronounced horizontal ridges. A pale upper band contrasts with the dark blue-green lower body, making its built-up surface visible rather than disguising it as a smooth wheel-thrown form. The exhibition labels the work undated, so these visible features should not be used to assign a precise year.

Small rounded Hagen coil pot with horizontal ridges, pale glazed rim and dark blue-green lower body. — Alice Egan Hagen, Coil Pot, undated, glazed earthenware. Photo courtesy of Nova Scotia Museum; MSVU Art Gallery / Community Stories exhibition. Copyright retained. Image: Photo courtesy of Nova Scotia Museum; Alice Egan Hagen exhibition, Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery / Community Stories · Copyright retained — source terms.

Deichmann pottery in New Brunswick

Kjeld and Erica Deichmann established their New Brunswick studio in the 1930s. The Royal Ontario Museum’s collection feature illustrates their pottery and explains their experiments with clay and glazes. Although they sought local materials, they eventually used Nova Scotia clay as their main clay body. Place of manufacture and source of clay are therefore separate details. ROM: New Brunswick’s Deichmann pottery.

When comparing your own piece, photograph its base, mark, rim and any existing chips without scraping or cleaning them. Record measurements and known ownership history. A close resemblance is a useful lead; a supported identification needs the details to agree.

The ROM’s soup service makes the relationship between shape and glaze easier to compare: a large covered tureen is surrounded by smaller lidded bowls, with pale green surfaces and repeated raised handles. Look at those repeated details together rather than relying on green glaze alone to identify a Deichmann piece.

Pale green glazed Deichmann soup tureen surrounded by matching smaller covered bowls, with raised lid handles. — Kjeld and Erica Deichmann, soup tureen and covered bowls, ROM collection 987.23. © Royal Ontario Museum. Source article by Heather Read. Image: Royal Ontario Museum, ROM Accession 987.23.*; source article by Heather Read · Copyright retained — source terms.