Artist/Maker

Krause, Thomas

Place Made

Date Made

1827

Medium

lead glazed earthenware

Dimensions

HOA 7-1/2″; WOA 23-1/2″ (width at handles); DIA 21-3/4″ (top rim excl. handles); DIA 10-1/2″ base

Accession Number

5186

Description

Large two-handled bowl; iron tinted brown glaze on interior; exterior unglazed; applied shaped handles terminating in joint with three distinct wide imprints; distinct foot (approx. 1/2″ high). Very similar to the example by John Butner pictured as figure 92 on page 138 of Bivins, Moravian Potters In North Carolina.

Inscribed: Tho [illegible] Krause / Jan 1[illegible] 1827 [illegible]

History

Thomas Krause made and signed this mixing bowl in January 1827 when he was still working in Bethabara. He moved to Bethania in May of the same year.

Thomas Krause (1798-1843), the son of potter Gottlieb Krause (1760-1802), probably apprenticed to Bethabara potter John Butner (1778-1857) since his own father died when he was only four years old. By 1827 when he made this bowl, Thomas was a well-trained potter and ready to embark on a career as a master in the trade.
At almost 22 inches in diameter, this vessel was probably used to make enough bread dough to create loaves that would feed a family for several days. Moravian potters rarely signed their wares, yet Thomas signed this “Tho [illegible] Krause / Jan 1[illegible] 1827 [illegible]”. The fact that Thomas signed this bowl shortly before his move to Bethania to establish himself as a potter there suggests this bowl had special significance to the young tradesman. Perhaps it was one of the first wares he made once he transitioned from journeyman to master potter.
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Artist Biography

MAKER: Thomas Krause, son of Gottlob Krause was more than likely an apprentice to John Butner. Following Gottlob Krause’s death in 1802, Butner was the only potter in Bethabara for many years. By 1810-12 Thomas Krause would have been old enough to become a potter’s apprentice. He is not mentioned as a potter until 1825 when it is noted that in Bethania “Br. Krause, of Bethabara, set up a stove in the small Saal on the upper floor of the Gemein Haus. The room can now be used for a school room.” Two years late, the Bethabara Diary notes that “Br. Thomas and Sr. Susanna Elisabeth Krause, and their little daughter Juliana Susanna, and the widowed Sr. Susanna Losch, moved from here to Bethania; he will carry on his craft as a potter.” In April, 1829, Krause moved again, this time to the “vicinity of Waughtown”, where he joined Benjamin Wagemann in his pottery shop there. It is not known how long Krause remained with Wagemann. In 1834 mention is made that he had visited Bethania to repair a tile stove, leaving “great disorder.” Krause, along with two other men, had “gotton hold of a dram bottle,” and no doubt the diarist had occasion to regret that he had not attempted to repair the stove himself. (Bivins, p.70)

Credit Line

Old Salem Museums & Gardens