A look at the design, market and legacy of Victorian pottery

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

James Carr and the City Pottery of New York

James Carr

The name James Carr is well known to American majolica collectors but relatively little is actually known about the pottery he founded.

James Carr was born in Cheadle Staffordshire England in July 20, 1820. He started working as a potter starting at the age of ten doing an apprenticeship at Ridgeways in Cauldon Place. Carr left his family home in Hanley in 1837 upon the death of his father and found himself working full time and dependent on his own resources. He left Hanley in 1839, the same year Carr married Leah Rushton. 

He left England in 1844 with second wife Mary Elizabeth Smith and arrived in New York on November 18, 1844 on the HMS Liverpool to find work at the potteries of New Jersey. He first found a position in Jersey City at the American Pottery. He remained there for eight years, then in 1852 he moved to South Amboy where he rented the Swan Hill pottery from Charles Fish. There he worked with Joseph Wooton, Danial Greatbatch and Thomas Locker. Swan Hill was a manufacturer of  Rockingham ware white ware and yellow ware.

HMS Liverpool

American Pottery at the Paulus Hook section of Jersey City

Rockingham type foot warmer attributed to Carr, 
Swan Hill Pottery, Amboy, NJ

Earthenware pitcher, James Carr & Co., 
Swan Hill Pottery

James Carr c. 1871

Alexander Morrison III (1814-1881)

Carr majolica vase

In 1853 the Swan Hill Pottery suffered a devastating fire. By 1855 James Carr partnered with businessman Alexander Morrison III to open Morrison & Carr on west 13th Street in New York.  There they manufactured opaque china and white granite ware, mostly utilitarian ware. Carr attended to the creative side of the manufacturing while Morrison attended to the business side. It then became known as the New York City Pottery. It was here that Carr began the experiments with glazes that led to his development of a line of majolica. In 1871 Carr dissolved the partnership but remained at the same location operating the four kiln pottery himself.

Ad for Carr's New York Pottery

Ad for Carr's New York City Pottery

A rare marked example of Carr majolica

Reverse of the above plate showing the distinct hand written Carr mark

Carr Pottery majolica plate

With the exception of a few pieces we don't know precisely what lines of majolica he made. Atlee Barber in his book The Ceramic Art claimed that he prepared majolica jars, pedestals, seats, boxes, and cups. Charles Rebert in his book American Majolica 1850-1900 claimed that he made a line of shell and seaweed majolica. The pattern he referred to was later identified as the work of Shorter & Boulton with no relationship to Carr.

In 1876 Carr exhibited majolica and parian ware at the 1876 Centennial celebration in Philadelphia. In the sole surviving image of his display, shown below, we can see quite a few Parian busts; decorated ironstone; several majolica pedestals with a scene of Washington crossing the Delaware; a majolica jardiniere in the shape of a wooden barrel; majolica sardine boxes in the style of George Jones; a majolica dog sitting up and several majolica platters, though their design is indiscernible.

The catalog described the exhibit display thus:

“Exhibits of white and decorated ‘granite’ table-and toilet-wares; vitreous stone tea-wares; and white-bodied ware decorated as majolica, not artistic. Parian busts and statuettes modeled after designs by Mr. Edge, the material fair. Some tentative specimens of ‘pâte sur pâte’ on stoneware body, also of ‘email ombrant’”


Carr's exhibit at the 1876 Centennial celebration in Philadelphia

Gold medal from the the 1876 Philadelphia Exhibition

Carr Parian bust "Evening" modeled by W.H. Edge

Carr Générant Grant Parian bust modeled by W. H. Edge

Carr parian Meeting of Jacob and Rachel, modeling 
attributed to J. D. Parry

Carr parian sculpture of statesman Charles Sumner 
modeled by J.D. Parry

John Mackie Falconer plaque by New York City Pottery 
dated January 17, 1878
Washington Crossing The Delaware pedestal 
created for the 1876 Exhibition

An example of Carr's decorated Ironstone
Jar for William S. Kimball & Co. Vanity Fair tobacco


Carr Pottery majolica vase

Carr vase from the top

Carr's Rip van Winkle majolica tazza 
c. 1876. Modeled by W. H. Edge,

Carr majolica pitcher from Lincoln Pottery,
 a copy of George Jones

James Carr majolica pedestal, a copy of a 
Royal Worcester design

Carr brown glazed umbrella stand, a copy 
of Fielding's Fan pattern

He also exhibited at the 1878 Paris Exhibition where he received an award for quality in workmanship for his display.

Carr cobalt vase

Enamel decorated earthenware dog platter c.1880

In 1879 in partnership with Edward Clark, Carr purchased a failing pottery in Trenton and renamed it the Lincoln Pottery. The pottery was dedicated to utilitarian cream ware and granite for everyday use. It was not a long lived venture however as the pottery was sold again just a few months later and Carr resumed his work at the New York City Pottery.

Carr's second wife, Mary Elizabeth Smith Carr

Carr kept an active social life. He had two wives simultaneously and kept two families–one in Wolstanton, Staffordshire England and one in the greater New York area in the U.S.–traveling back and forth by ship over the course of several years. He had eight children with his first wife Leah in England, and eleven with his second wife Mary in New York. After Carr's wife Mary died at the age of 59 in 1886 he married third wife Emily Kerr in 1889. She died seven years later.

James Carr and part of his family



In 1889 Carr closed the NYC Pottery and retired. His investments in warehouses and rental properties on west 13th Street kept him a wealthy man. In 1901 he published his memoirs in Pottery & Glass Journal detailing his experiences in the pottery trade, Reminiscences of an Old Potter: A series of Letters by James Carr. He died at the age of 83 on January 31, 1904. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery with his second wife Mary in the Bronx, New York alongside other wealthy citizens of victorian New York. His first wife Leah outlived him, dying in 1907 in Wolstanton, England. His son Thomas, along with his two son-in-laws, later founded the Carr China Company in 1916 in Grafton, West Virginia.


Carr's grave in the Bronx, N.Y.

Carr’s obituary

Parian bust of James Carr modeled by W.H. Edge

Mark of the New York City Pottery

Current occupant of the former location of the New York City Pottery,
the Standard High Line Hotel

*The post has been updated since it was first published.