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For decades historians and archaeologists assumed that the first soft-paste porcelain made in America was manufactured at the Bonnin and Morris factory in Philadelphia between 1770 and 1772.
But now, a series of articles published in the 2007 volume of the prestigious Ceramics in America series (Chipstone Foundation, Milwaukee) edited by Robert Hunter concludes that America's first porcelain was actually made in Cain Hoy, S.C., between 1765 and 1770 by a Staffordshire, England potter named John Bartlam.
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Stan South
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Lisa Hudgins
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J. Victor Owen
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Bartlam's story is told in four articles of the book dedicated to American porcelain: "America's First Porcelain Manufacturer," by Hunter; "John Bartlam's Porcelain at Cain Hoy, 1765-1770," by Stan South, an archaeologist with the S.C. Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of South Carolina; "John Bartlam's Porcelain at Cain Hoy: A Closer Look," by Lisa R. Hudgins, a research assistant with the S.C. Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology; and "Geochemistry of High-Fired Bartlam Ceramics," by J. Victor Owen, chair of the Department of Geology at Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
"The papers demonstrate conclusively that South Carolina can now lay claim to the first porcelain factory in America, once again bringing the Palmetto State's vibrant ceramic heritage into the spotlight," South said.
Originally outlined in books published by South in 1993 and 2004, the important discovery in the history of Staffordshire-type ceramics in America resulted from two expeditions carried out at Cain Hoy (today known as Cainhoy about nine miles north of Charleston) by South and his colleagues in 1992.
The porcelain shards, referred to by Bartlam as "China," were found along with many types of Bartlam's polychrome creamware, tortoiseshell and other exotic mold-made forms.
"The artifacts found at Cain Hoy placed Bartlam as American's first creamware potter, which caused a stir among archaeologists and collectors interested in learning what those talking artifact fragments have to tell us about the past," South said.
Subsequent lab analysis and archival research by Hudgins and South led to the conclusion that Bartlam was making porcelain in his South Carolina factory.
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Above, cover of Ceramics in America and, below, an example of John Bartlam's ceramics--made in Cain Hoy, S.C., on the Wando River north of Charleston--provide evidence of the first soft-paste porcelain made in America.
