Sleeping Boy & Sleeping Girl Pottery Inkwells

1. Origin and Maker: Larkin Brothers, Newell, WV

The Larkin Brothers Pottery is a confirmed and highly important, though short-lived, part of the East Liverpool Pottery District.

• Factory Dates: Larkin Brothers Pottery (owned by James and Samuel Larkin) was in business in Newell, West Virginia, from approximately 1848 until 1861. This short span makes their marked pieces rare and desirable.
• East Liverpool District: Though located across the river in West Virginia (then Virginia), Newell was functionally part of the massive East Liverpool pottery complex in Ohio. This region was the center of American yellowware and Rockingham production in the 19th century.
• Significance: These inkwells represent figural Rockingham ware that can be definitively traced to an American maker, helping to distinguish them from the English imports (which often bore the similar Rockingham glaze).

1. Description of the Inkwells and Finishes

These inkwells were molded from a fine earthenware clay body, yellowware (a buff or yellow-toned clay). They are categorized as novelty wares, popular desk accessories.

1. The Design and Form

• Figural Subject: The inkwells depict a companion set of a sleeping boy and a sleeping girl.
• Pose: Both figures are reclined on a naturalistic base, molded to suggest a bed, giving them a charming, sentimental appearance.
• Details:
  • The Boy is shown with a brimmed cap or hat.
  • The Girl is shown with a bonnet or cap framing.
  • Functionality: The dipping hole is consistently located in the front center of the base.

1. The Finishes

The examples pictured, showing the variety of finishes applied to the same mold:

• Rockingham Glaze: The most famous finish. This is a variegated, mottled, manganese-brown glaze applied over the yellowware body. The depth and color breaks of the glaze often create a dramatic “tortoiseshell” or multi-tonal brown appearance, with light, yellowish areas where the glaze is thin.
• Plain Brown Glaze: Some pieces were finished with a less mottled, more uniform solid dark brown glaze.
• Yellowware: Examples exist finished only in the clear glaze applied directly over the yellow clay body, leaving them a solid yellow.
• “Albany Slip” Glaze: This is a very dark, often blackish-brown glaze (made from a specific iron-rich clay) used on some pieces, particularly those from the Ohio Valley.

III. Age and Historical Context

Based on the confirmed dates for the Larkin Brothers Pottery, these inkwells have a very precise age range:

• Age: These inkwells were made between 1848 and 1861.
• Context: This period falls squarely in the peak years of American Rockingham and yellowware production before the American Civil War, and well before the district shifted primarily to white ironstone china later in the century. These pieces reflect the mid-19th-century taste for sentimental, figural objects, particularly those depicting children.