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The Harker, Taylor & Company
Water Cooler
Another, only slightly smaller water cooler, is also on display in the Rockingham gallery at MoC. This one is embossed with the pottery’s name, Salt & Mear, and “East Liverpool, Ohio”
The single largest ceramic item in the collection of the Museum of Ceramics is a water cooler made by Harker, Taylor and Company. The container is made of yellow clay, mined in East Liverpool, and stands nearly two feet tall. The reddish-brown glaze gives the cooler a marbled look. The front is adorned with a redware plaque boasting the name of the pottery and the location.
Before the invention of refrigeration, ceramic water coolers were used to keep the water cooler than the room temperature. This piece, however, would be too large for home use. It was probably produced to be a show piece or an entry in a national competition. Harker, Taylor and Company won a silver medal for their artistic abilities in an 1848 competition.
The cooler would have been made in a mold created by a skilled modeler. The sheer size of the piece would have been a challenge. The glaze on the piece is also the work of a highly skilled potter and quite unique.
The cooler was made between ca. 1846 and 1852, the years the Harker, Taylor and Company was in business. It is exhibited in the Rockingham Gallery at the Museum of Ceramics.