Hugh C. Robertson was born in 1845.


Before George Ohr made a splash with his eccentric thin-walled and vividly hued vessels, Hugh C. Robertson was America’s first true “art potter”.


He and other members of the Robertson clan founded Chelsea, Massachusetts-based Chelsea Keramic Art Works in the early 1870's and, like many contemporary potteries, started out producing a mix of both utilitarian and art wares.


One of their early specialties was reproducing Greek pottery, but thanks to Hugh’s interest in other subjects and the diversity of artists they hired (chief among them Canadian-born George Fenety), their wares grew to be more eclectic by the late 1870's. Their creations were remarkably varie...