Norse Pottery (1903-1913) | Wisconsin Historical Society

Historical Essay

Norse Pottery (1903-1913)

Norse Pottery (1903-1913) | Wisconsin Historical Society
Dictionary of Wisconsin History.

 

In 1891, Pauline Jacobus recruited Thorwald P. A. Samson and Louis Ipson, professional potters at the Hjords Pottery in Denmark, to work for the Pauline Pottery of Edgerton. Within a year of their arrival in Edgerton, Samson and Ipson established their own pottery company, the American Art Clay Works (renamed Edgerton Art Clay Works in 1895). In 1903, they started a new line of earthenwares in Edgerton called the Norse Pottery. These works were modeled on the forms and motifs of ancient Scandinavian artifacts and featured a distinctive black and bronzed matte finish and incised decoration highlighted in green. Products included ashtrays, urns, and candlesticks. Arthur Washburn Wheelock, a wholesale pottery dealer, purchased the Norse Pottery in 1904 and relocated it to Rockford, Illinois. The company closed in 1913.

View examples of Norse Pottery in the Wisconsin Decorative Arts Database. Kenneth Dearolf, Wisconsin Folk Pottery (Kenosha Public Museum, 1986); Maurice Montgomery, Edgerton's History in Clay: Pauline Pottery to Pickard China (2001).

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