Artist/Maker

Shop of Rudolph Christ

Place Made

Date Made

1801-1829

Medium

lead glazed earthenware

Dimensions

LOA 4 1/4

Accession Number

750.6

Description

One form never mentioned in any of the Moravian pottery inventories is the crayfish bottle, which was made in at least two sizes. The mold for the crayfish appears to have been made from a natural specimen. Only two Moravian crayfish bottles are known, both with green glaze over white slip (Art in Clay Gallery Guide). This bottle is the smaller of the two known green crayfish. Both sides of the mold have the crayfish design. The resulting bottle is an oblong bottle with the design in relief on both sides of the fish-shaped body of the bottle. At one end above the head of the crayfish would have been a small spout (missing from this example).

Moravian potters in North Carolina made press-molded earthenware for more than one hundred and twenty-five years. The range of forms documented by surviving objects, molds, and references in pottery inventories is far greater than that of any contemporary American ceramic tradition. From smoking pipes to stove tiles, the Moravian potters at Bethabara and Salem expanded the production of press-molded earthenware to include figural bottles and casters, non-figural bottles, and toys. A press mold was usually plaster, consisting of two parts with the exterior design of the bottle impressed on the interior of each half of the mold. Once the clay was set up, the molds were removed and the form remained with the impressions of the mold.

Rudolph Christ can be credited for the successful production and marketing of press molded figural wares during his tenure as master of the pottery at Salem
(1789–1821). Rudolph Christ apprenticed under Gottfried Aust in Salem, North Carolina. He established his own pottery in Bethabara in 1786 and worked there until 1789. He succeeded Aust as master potter in Salem from 1789 to 1821. (Ceramics in America 2009) The production of press-molded wares also continued through the tenure of John Holland, who apprenticed under Rudolph Christ and as noted in Moravian records, inherited molds used in Christ’s shop. Rudolph Christ retired in 1821 and John Holland took over as Salem’s third master potter. Although the pottery ceased to operate as a congregational business in 1829, production of press-molded wares continued in the shop of Holland and another Salem, potter, Heinrich Schaffner until at least the middle of the nineteenth century.

Brown, Johanna. “Tradition and Adaptation in Moravian Press-Molded Wares.” CERAMICS IN AMERICA (2009) 105-138.

Erickson, Michelle; Hunter, Robert; and Hannah, Caroline M.”Making a Moravian Squirrel Bottle.” CERAMICS IN AMERICA. (2009): 199-216.

History

Press Molded
Moravian potters in North Carolina made press-molded earthenware for
more than one hundred and twenty-five years. The range of forms documented
by surviving objects, molds, and references in pottery inventories
is far greater than that of any contemporary American ceramic tradition.
From smoking pipes to stove tiles, the Moravian potters at Bethabara and
Salem expanded the production of press-molded earthenware to include
figural bottles and casters, non-figural bottles, and toys. Rudolph Christ
can be credited for the successful production and marketing of pressmolded
figural wares during his tenure as master of the pottery at Salem
(1789–1821).(Art in Clay Gallery Guide)
Flasks & Figures
Moravian potters made thrown flasks, bottles, and other utilitarian forms
long before introducing press-molded variants around 1800. During the
first quarter of the nineteenth century, the variety of figural objects listed
in the pottery inventories expanded with each passing year. A molded
flask with a stylized flower may represent one of the “57 bottles” listed in
the 1810 inventory of the Salem pottery or one of the sixty green bottles
listed in the 1824 inventory. In 1819 the stock-in-trade of the Salem
pottery included eighty-four eagle bottles and plaster molds for producing
two different sizes. Of the three bottles known to survive, all are the
same size and have green glaze applied on a white slip. The 1819 inventory
also listed one hundred and seventy-five “ladies” in three different sizes.
Children enjoyed press-molded wares specially designed for them including
doll heads to which cloth bodies could be attached. A figural form
likely inspired by contact with Native Americans was the so-called “Indian.”
The ceramic Indians listed at 10 shillings each in the 1806
inventory were the most expensive bottles made at the Salem pottery. No
examples of this figure or its molds are known to survive.(Art in Clay Gallery Guide)
Turtles, Fish and Crayfish
Two different styles of turtle bottles—occasionally described as “terrapins”
on inventories of the Salem pottery—were available when the form
was introduced about 1800. The inventory for that year lists thirty-four
turtles valued at 2 shillings each and thirteen at 1 shilling 6 pence each.
Of all the figural bottles produced at Salem, fish survive in the greatest
number. Most are glazed green on the outside but examples decorated
in tortoiseshell colors are known. Fish appear in the April 30, 1801 inventory
of the Salem pottery valued at 1 shilling 6 pence each. Three sizes
were available the following year, and by 1806 the pottery was producing
four patterns—the number represented by surviving molds listed in the
1828 inventory. One form never mentioned in any of the pottery
inventories is the crayfish bottle, which was made in at least two sizes.
Since its basic shape mimics the fish bottle, it may have been counted as
one of those forms. As was the case with the small turtle bottle, the
molds for the crayfish appear to have been made from a natural specimen.
Only two Moravian crayfish bottles are known, both with green
glaze. (Art in Clay Gallery Guide)
Also see “Ceramics in America” 2009

Artist Biography

MAKER: Rudolph Christ (1750-1833), the son of Rudolph Christ and Anna Wolf, was born in Lauten, Wurtemberg, Germany. He arrived in Bethabara in 1764 at the age of fourteen. In 1766, he apprenticed to Gottfried Aust, whose shop was in Salem, with whom he had a turbulent relationship. In August, 1770, the Elders Conference noted in its minutes that “Aust and his apprentice Christ have separated again” and Christ had written a letter to Brother Marshall begging to be released from his master and to be transferred to another settlement. After repeated requests, Christ was finally released in 1771, and he became the apprentice to the Salem gunmaker. Due to the lack of business at the gunshop, however, Christ returned to Aust’s pottery in 1772. He was freed of his apprenticeship in either 1773 or 1774, yet he remained in the pottery as a journeyman. Christ learned the art of making Queensware, while Aust continued to produce only earthenware. The young man listed this difference of materials as one of the many reasons he should be permitted to establish his own pottery. Time after time his attempts were thwarted by the Elders Conference, who clearly thought of him as a troublemaker. In 1780, the Elders Conference suggested that he marry Elizabeth Oesterlein, who became his first wife. This marriage gave him further reason to desire to be on his own, and finally in 1785, he received permission to set up his own business in Bethabara. He produced simpler varieties of Queensware such as moulded plates and Oriental form bowls. Many works had a mottled glaze. He had his own apprentices some of whom were Jacob Myer, David Baumgarten, and John Butner, who became master of the Bethabara pottery when Christ returned to Salem. Christ experimented with tin-enameled or faience pottery and grey salt-glazed stoneware which was popular in Pennsylvania. Christ was the master in Bethabara from 1786 to 1789, and then he became the master of Salem from 1789 to 1821.

Credit Line

Old Salem Antiquities Purchase Fund