FAHRENHEIT 2300 by Crocker Farm

Grand in its size and decoration, a unique Poughkeepsie, NY stoneware jug will be offered without reserve in our March 5 auction of antique American stoneware and redware. Measuring 21 1/2″ tall, the jug was thrown on the potter’s wheel in two sections to accomodate its monumental size. A seam line near the shoulder reveals that the majority of the jug was thrown as a cylinder, and the remainder of the jug (including its rounded shoulder and squared spout) were affixed and sealed to the vessel. While the height of the jug is extremely rare, its slender form is perhaps equally unusual. The jug’s width is comparable to that of a two-gallon example, but with a height twice that.

The incredible size of the piece suggests it was made to catch one’s attention, and the decoration supports this notion. Extending upward and covering 18″ or so of the jug’s vertical surface is a large slip-trailed cobalt tree with graduated limbs. This tree was lightly incised into the surface of the jug prior to being applied in cobalt slip, a technique which allowed the decorator to map out his design. (Interestingly, the Fenton & Hancock stoneware cooler with decoration of a Civil War general and his wife, which set a record in our November 2006 auction, features similar incising under the decoration.)

Perched near the peak of the tree are four fan-tailed birds with crests, and flanking the tree’s heavily-shaded trunk are a seated dog and a reclining doe with cobalt-spot-decorated bodies. The doe sports an unusually long tail, perhaps more fitting of a dog. Realistic sizing plays no role in the decoration, as the birds appear too large for the tree, and the dog towers over the deer. Other New York State and New England decorators were known to disregard the actual scale of design elements. For example, Norton stoneware from Bennington, Vermont is famous for such folksy discrepancies, featuring fanciful designs, such as an oversized flower basket beside a small deer or a large deer beside a much smaller tree.

The animal scene on the Poughkeepsie jug captures four distinctive designs the pottery was known for: the fan-tailed bird, the dog, the deer, and a tree with graduated limbs. It is these distinctive designs, most notably the bird and the tree, that lead to a strong attribution to the pottery of Philip Riedinger and Adam Caire of Poughkeepsie, NY. A great deal of information is provided on this potting firm in William C. Ketchum’s seminal book, Potters and Potteries of New York State, 1650-1900. According to Ketchum’s research, the partnership of potters, Adam Caire and Philip Riedinger, began in 1857 at a long-standing pottery on Poughkeepsie’s Main Street. Prior to that time, Riedinger had been operating at the same location with another partner, Louis Lehman. Caire, the son of potter, John B. Caire, having finished his six-year apprenticeship in Hartford and Amboy, purchased Lehman’s interest in the operation. Thus, the partnership of Riedinger & Caire was born, a formidable business that would survive until Riedinger’s death in 1878. The operation was known as the Poughkeepsie Pottery, and during its later years, employed sixteen potters, including a prolific artisan named Samuel Brady (Ketchum, p. 118). Brady would operate a pottery in Ellenville, NY with partner, John J. Ryan, between 1881 and about 1897 (Ketchum, p. 143, 466). Numerous examples of Brady & Ryan stoneware from Ellenville show strong Poughkeepsie Pottery influences. Similarities are particularly evident in the partnership’s bird designs.

The eye-catching appeal of the jug suggests it may have sat in the storefront of the Poughkeepsie Pottery to advertise the company’s wares. Oral history of many other large-sized decorative pieces, including one or more coolers produced by J. & E. Norton of Bennington, a Decker jar from Tennessee, and an oversized Perine pitcher from Baltimore, indicate they sat in prominent locations to promote the potteries that made them. Quietly hidden away until recently in a New York State home, this great jug is sure to turn heads once again, just as it surely did over 125 years ago.

A small-sized stoneware rum jug with an interesting history will cross the block in our April 10 auction. Standing just 5 1/4″ tall, the jug was made for Brooklyn, New York sea captain, Julius Frank Caulkins, and bears his initials, along with the inscription “His Jug,” across the front. The vessel is consistent in form and color to stoneware produced in Caulkins’ home state of New York, circa 1860-1870.

The captain was born on January 27, 1833, and eventually became master of the ship “Energy,” a fully-rigged vessel built in South Boston in 1860. It measured 168 feet long, had a 34 foot beam, and weighed 967 tons.

“Energy” was wrecked on Hunting Island, South Carolina, on October 20, 1872. Fortunately, Caulkins, his wife, and his prized jug survived. Apparently, there was some discussion as to whether the jug’s contents played a role in the grounding of the ship. Caulkins account of previous damage sustained by “Energy” nine years earlier was printed in the February 1, 1863 of the New York Times:

DEAR SIRS: After encountering a succession of the heaviest gales I ever experienced, in which I lost sails, stove boats, twisted off the rudder-head, and sustained other damage, I was compelled to bear up for this place to repair damages. I shall proceed at once with the necessary repairs, which I hope will be completed in about 10 days, when I shall leave for your port.

Yours truly, JULIUS F. CAULKINS,

Master of ship Energy.

After years of cheating death, an incident five years after the wreck in South Carolina would prove fatal for the captain. On January 3, 1877, Caulkins was lost at sea aboard the steamer, “George Cromwell,” which wrecked near Newfoundland. All hands were lost.

For stoneware enthusiasts, presentation pieces stir our curiosity when they come along. We often wonder who, exactly, they were made for, and why they were made for that particular person. Oftentimes, they are a relative of a potter or an important figure within a certain community. However, presentation pieces are often difficult to research, particularly when they are inscribed only with the owner’s initials. Fortunately for this little jug, it remained in the captain’s family. Having survived 150 years (and a shipwreck) Caulkins’ jug ultimately descended to his great grandson, its consignor. And while so much information on pottery is lost at sea, so to speak, this one’s colorful history has thankfully survived.

An important large-sized redware dog by the Bell family will cross the block in our January 30th auction of the William Kelly Young collection. Measuring 8 3/4″ long by 8 5/8″ tall, the figure is one of a small number of this size known to have been produced by members of the Bell family in Strasburg, VA and Waynesboro, PA. The standing pose and robust body form, finished with a curled tail and large flattened ears, are characteristic of the Bells’ work. Examples of this general style by various members of the Bell family are documented in The Shenandoah Pottery by Alvin H. Rice and John Baer Stoudt, Folk Pottery of the Shenandoah Valley by William Wiltshire, III, and The Pottery of the Shenandoah Valley Region

by H.E. Comstock. These pieces include a few by John Bell and his son, Charles Frederick Bell, of Waynesboro, a pair by Samuel Bell of Strasburg, which descended to his son, Ashby, and a pair by Samuel’s son, Charles Forrest Bell, now in the Henry Ford Museum. An oustanding punch-decorated dog with monkey rider, attributed to one of Samuel’s sons, also bears similarities in form and size. Interestingly, the dog selling in our January 30th auction is pictured on p. 264 of The Shenandoah Pottery, catalog-numbered 157, indicating that it was collected by Alvin Rice in the Shenandoah Valley prior to 1929. The damage visible in the photo, including an area where a basket was once connected to its neck, has since been restored.

The dog is constructed from two conjoined, wheel-thrown cylinders, one forming the body and the other forming the neck. (Many of the animals produced by various Pennsylvania makers have a similar hollow-bodied construction.) Several balls of clay were placed inside the dog’s body prior to firing, causing the figure to rattle when shaken. To prevent damage during the firing, vent holes were bored into the corners of the dog’s mouth, the lower breast, and between the back legs. The famous Solomon Bell redware lion in the MESDA collection, as well as a John Bell stoneware lion, are also vented through the breast and mouth, as noted by Shenandoah pottery authority, H.E. Comstock (Comstock, pp. 151, 232).

The animal’s fur is produced from numerous diagonally-incised lines. The toes with incised demarcations and unusual incised toe nails are also visible on two of the feet. One of the most distinctive “Bell” features of the dog is its impressed eyes, composed of an oval with an inner arching line. This decorative stamp is used to create the eyes and embellish the bases of several animals produced by the Strasburg and Waynesboro Bells (Comstock, p. 155).

The surface is decorated in daubs of manganese and cream-colored slip and coated in a clear lead glaze. The use of a simple lead and manganese glaze is typical of Bell animals, as well as most animals produced by various other 19th century potters. However, the addition of cream slip spotting is unusual for animals made by the Bells (or those by any potter for that matter). The overall color is remarkably similar to a pair of cats and a seated dog attributed to Solomon Bell and pictured on pp. 232 and 233 of The Pottery of the Shenandoah Valley Region.

True Bell animals are quite rare and have been increasingly difficult to find in the antiques market. The family’s notoriety for producing figural pieces, coupled with the desirability of Bell pottery in general, has led to numerous erroneous Bell attributions. (A look at the Sotheby’s catalog for the auction of the Pauline Heilman collection, held way back in 1982, will give you an idea of these frequent errors.) This dog is a different story. With a firm attribution and Rice provenance, this example is the first of its size and origin to sell at auction in some time, with many of the “BELLS” and whistles one looks for in a quality American redware dog.

Two exciting redware (or earthenware) animal bottles will cross the block in our January 30th auction of the William Kelly Young Collection. Both were purchased by Mr. Young in 1993 at Christie’s in New York City, in a sale that included several other fine examples of American redware and some stoneware. Both of these bottles were produced in Salem, North Carolina, sometime during the early part of the 19th century, by German-born potter, Rudolph Christ (1755-1833). Christ took control of the shop of deceased potter, Gottfried Aust, in Salem in 1789 and continued to work there until 1821 (Bivins, p. 30). He is most well-known for producing a variety of wonderful molded animal forms (along with a line of wheel-thrown vessels), including squirrels, owls, turkeys, crayfish, chickens, bear, sheep, foxes, and several sizes of fish.

The first redware bottle of the two to be sold, in the form of a standing squirrel holding a nut, is decorated with daubs of manganese and copper over a yellow slip and covered in a clear lead glaze. The reddish-orange color of the underlying clay is visible on the underside of the bottle’s recessed foot. Interestingly, manganese is brushed in a figure 8 pattern on one leg. Whether this treatment was implied to mean the number 8 or whether it was merely the haphazard brushwork of the potter, we will never know. The glaze is remarkably similar to the “multi-glaze” or “polychrome glaze” used by the Bells and Eberlys of Strasburg, Virginia, several decades later. In fact, I have seen a few Moravian pieces misattributed to the Shenandoah Valley for this reason. In actuality, this glaze was meant to mimic a glaze popularized by the English potter, Thomas Whieldon, during the mid 1700′s (Bivins, p. 209). The second Moravian bottle is more stylized, in the form of a portly bear. The figure’s small mouth reveals a few tiny sharp teeth, and its right foot rests upon a slain animal, possibly a sheep or pig. Its surface is covered in a dark brown glaze composed of lead and manganese.

Until recently, the most exhaustive study of North Carolina’s Moravian redware was John Bivins, Jr.’s book, The Moravian Potters in North Carolina, which was written in 1972. This book is an excellent source of information, and I encourage anyone interested in this fascinating school of pottery to take a

look at it. However, new information has come to light since then, particularly in the last three years. At the time the book was printed, for example, the author’s knowledge of some of Christ’s rarest forms could only be gleaned from period inventory lists and the existence of the objects’ original molds. Regarding an owl form, Bivins notes “since no finished examples are available, we do not know for what use the owls were intended (Bivins, p. 204).” The same is mentioned regarding a fox mold. However, both finished forms have surfaced since that time, adding to our knowledge of this potter’s work.

The 2009 edition of Ceramics in America, published by the Chipstone Foundation, is dedicated entirely to the Moravian potters of North Carolina, offering a current look at their work with several new discoveries.  Edited by Robert Hunter and Luke Beckerdite, the book includes the following articles:

Eighteenth-Century Earthenware from North Carolina:
The Moravian Tradition Reconsidered
Luke Beckerdite and Johanna Brown

Staffordshire in America: The Wares of John Bartlam at
Cain Hoy, 1765–1770

Lisa Hudgins

Staffordshire Ceramics in Wachovia
Robert Hunter

Tradition and Adaptation in Moravian Press-Molded Earthenware
Johanna Brown

Salem Pottery after 1834: Henry Schavner and Daniel Krause
Michael O. Hartley

The Mount Shepherd Pottery Site, Randolph County, North Carolina
Alain C. Outlaw

Making a Moravian Faience Ring Bottle
Robert Hunter and Michelle Erickson

Making a Moravian Squirrel Bottle
Michelle Erickson, Robert Hunter, and Caroline M. Hannah

The front cover of this edition pictures an incredible copper-glazed figure of a fox clutching a chicken (which in my opinion is one of the finest examples of early American pottery I’ve seen in some time). Looking at this piece, it is easy to understand why there is such great interest in Moravian pottery among historians and folk art collectors alike. I recommend anyone interested in the charming and useful objects created by Christ and others from this tradition to take a look at Ceramics in America‘s latest installment, a great contribution to our knowledge of Southern decorative arts.

Last August, when my father, brother, and I, traveled down to Ft. Worth, Texas, to take possession of Mr. Young’s collection, an interesting stoneware harvest jug sitting on his living room table caught my eye. According to Young’s daughter, it had been purchased by Mr. Young at an antiques show in New York City during the early 1990′s, where it had been erroneously described as a piece of Indian pottery.

The form of the jug itself was in the typical domed or beehive style characteristic of 19th century American stoneware harvest jugs. Yet the vessel was made extraordinary by the addition of a large applied rattlesnake, which curved around the body of the vessel and formed its handle. I was really taken with the look of the snake. The style was different than that of the Kirkpatrick brothers, who produced the majority of 19th century stoneware snake jugs. The head was not executed in the usual flattened, closed-mouth form characteristic of the Kirkpatricks’ work. Instead, the animal assumed an almost comical expression, as its large open mouth curved into a slight smile, exposing numerous applied teeth. The creature’s body was further embellished with numerous slashes of brushed Albany slip, and its tail ended in a thin rattle. I believe the jug was possibly made in the Midwest, where the majority of harvest jugs and snake vessels were produced during the 19th century. Yet the subject matter suggests it is more likely a product of the Southcentral U.S., possibly Texas, where the rattlesnake was a very familiar animal.

While cataloging this piece, I was wondering about its unusual form. The vast majority of harvest jugs known have two spouts, one on each side. One spout, which was larger than the other, was designed for pouring liquid into the vessel. A smaller spout on the opposite side was designed for pouring liquid out of the jug. This harvest jug, however, only had one spout, and nothing on the other side. As I studied the jug, I noticed a hole inside the back of the snake’s mouth. Seeing that the snake’s head rested on the jug’s finial, I wondered if the hole might connect through the finial to the interior of the vessel. I decided to do a test with water. After pouring a small amount of water into the tubular spout on the jug’s side, I carefully leaned the jug over a sink. Voila! The water began to flow from the snake’s mouth! Hence, a smaller,

pouring spout did exist on this jug. . . only in the form of the snake’s head!

I am impressed with the ingenuity of this jug’s potter, whoever the person was. By the addition of a clay snake, he created a handle and a pouring spout, as well as significant decorative appeal to an otherwise simple form. I, for one, am sold on the piece! We’ll see what the bidders think on January 30th.

Many agree that John Bell was one of the most creative American potters of the 19th century, with a highly diverse product line unlike most of his contemporaries. His career spanned over fifty years in Hagerstown, MD, Winchester, VA, and Waynesboro, PA, and during that time his products included cobalt-decorated utilitarian stoneware, simple and high-styled redware in a wide variety of forms and glazes, various molded household objects, and molded and hand-modeled animal figures. Bell’s works are included in some of the nation’s finest private folk art and museum collections, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Henry Ford Museum, Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, and Winterthur. This icon of American folk pottery is perhaps best known for his distinctive dotted tulip decoration, usually consisting of circular or oval petal flanked by thinner petals and accented with a series of brushed cobalt dots lining the top edge of the blossom.

The dotted tulip motif is commonly found on Bell’s salt-glazed stoneware, often applied over a kaolin slip to improve the color of the clay and decoration. The design is also frequently found applied in manganese on the unglazed exteriors of some of his redware jar forms. It is also seen, albeit very rarely, applied in cobalt on Bell’s redware over a glazed surface, most notably on his celadon-glazed redware jugs and pitchers. One such jug bears the initials “C F B,” indicating it was likely made by Bell’s son, Charles Frederick Bell. Two other examples of this style can be seen on p. 31 of George and Connie Manger’s Pottery of the Shenandoah and Cumberland Valleys.

Two early examples of John Bell redware pictured in H.E. Comstock’s The Pottery of the Shenandoah Valley Region are decorated with a tulip design, which can be viewed as a precursor to his dotted tulip motif. Both were made before 1845, when he began producing stoneware.  A very rare large-sized redware jar, pictured on page 116, plate 4.96, is decorated with an extensive cobalt tulip design over a whitish slip. A phenomenal tin-glazed teapot, pictured on page 126, plate 4.132, is decorated with a similar, vertical design in brown and green slip. Both of these early examples feature a ball-shaped petal flanked on each side by two very thin petals. Neither exhibits the dotted embellishment known on pieces produced years later.

As is the case with most stoneware decorators, it is unknown what inspired Bell to make this his trademark decoration, though it bears a resemblance to PA toleware decoration of the period (Comstock, p. 117). It appears that Bell’s tulips did not go unnoticed. Dotted brushwork on the floral designs of stoneware produced by John Young from Harrisburg, PA, circa 1854, and Samuel Irvine  of Newville, PA, circa 1865,  indicate that Bell’s style was probably being emulated by competitors in the state.

We have been consigned a very fine example of tulip-decorated John Bell stoneware for our October 31 auction, a three-gallon jug marked simply “JOHN BELL,” which descended in a Hagerstown, MD family. Its taller, thinner  spout and shapely form, which is slightly more ovoid than most of Bell’s stoneware jugs, suggests it may have been produced in the very early years of his stoneware production in Waynesboro, PA, circa 1845 to 1850. The form closely relates to an extremely rare early Bell stoneware jug sold through Crocker Farm in May 2008, which bears the abbreviated mark “J. BELL.” It is pictured below. That jug is the only example of Bell stoneware we have seen bearing this early mark, usually found on redware pieces made before 1850. The clay color and cobalt band around the spout are also noticeably similar to the jug we will be offering in October, further supporting the notion that both jugs were made early into Bell’s stoneware venture.

Most noteworthy about the jug is its elaborate cobalt slip decoration extending vertically from base to shoulder on each side. The design consists of two long stems bearing two smaller tulips, swags, and stylized dashed brushwork, each culminating in a very large dot-embellished tulip at the shoulder. These tulips are two of the largest I have observed on a piece of John Bell pottery, measuring about five inches wide each. Such profuse decoration is rarely seen on Bell’s jugs, suggesting this piece may have been made for a special client. The decoration on a standard Bell jug of this size is usually relegated to the shoulder area, typically having a tulip on each side and a third design on the front. An example of a fairly typical Bell jug, made circa 1860-1875, is pictured below.

Another interesting feature of the jug to be sold on October 31 is a small incised design, composed of two leaves connected by a stem, which underscores the three-gallon capacity mark. It may have been impressed rather than incised, made as part of the jug’s three-gallon capacity stamp.  I do not recall seeing this treatment on another piece of Bell pottery.

Since handling nearly four-hundred pieces of Bell pottery from Waynesboro, PA, the work of this master craftsman never ceases to amaze me in its variety, quality, and artistry. It is clear that Bell’s purpose for this jug was two-fold, as was the case for so many 19th century potters. While designed to be used as a household good, the jug’s highly decorative nature  reveals Bell’s intent to impress its owner with a thing of beauty.

The pottery form known as a gemel, also gemel jug or gemel bottle, is one of the rarest forms in American stoneware. The word is derived from the Latin word “geminus,” meaning twin, double, paired, or half-and-half. The plural of this same word, “gemini,” is used to refer to the constellation composed of  twin brothers, Castor and Pollux, of Greek mythology. The words “twin” or “double” definitely come to mind when one thinks of a pottery gemel, which is composed of two wheel-thrown jugs, joined together with clay between the two. A single handle is applied to carry and pour the paired jugs, though the positioning of this handle can vary from potter to potter. Variations of the form were also produced by American glass makers. Occasionally, the form is taken one step further, involving four connected jugs. Such pieces are referred to as “double gemels.”

The purpose of a gemel was to hold two liquids that were frequently used together in individual chambers. The form obviously made using such liquids more convenient than carrying two separate jugs. It is believed that many gemels were designed to hold oil and vinegar, which were commonly used in foods together, but needed to be kept separate. In other instances, a gemel may have held two different types of liquor.

While many gemels exist bearing little or no decoration, some are known with wonderful brushed or incised designs, indicating they were likely made as specially-ordered or presentation items. Most signed or attributed stoneware examples were produced in New Haven, CT, by Absolom Stedman, or during Stedman’s partnership with one of the Seymours, around the year 1831 (Ketchum, American Stoneware, p. 58). Several are known bearing maker’s marks from this pottery, including some with distinctive incised bird designs accented with impressed circles.

Redware examples are also known from elsewhere in the country, including a few produced in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, which are pictured in H.E. Comstock’s The Pottery of the Shenandoah Valley Region. A small example by the highly-regarded potter, Anthony Bacher, who worked in Adams County, PA, Winchester, VA, and Thurmont, MD, circa 1850 to 1885, is glazed in cream and brown and features a horizontal handle. A gemel by Winchester and Strasburg, VA potter, Solomon Bell, consists of two molded male figures holding mugs. Clay hats serve as the containers’ lids. Gemels were no doubt produced in nearly every region of 19th century American utilitarian pottery production, though few have survived.

We have been consigned an exceptional stoneware example for our October 31 auction, which was given as a gift to an early Hanover, PA antiques dealer in the first half of the 20th century, and has never been offered for public sale. Measuring 6 1/4″ tall, the double jug is decorated with two incised birds filled with bright cobalt slip. Both birds are embellished with incised crests and ringed necks, and their wings are outlined in unusual incised wavy lines. Each are perched on a scallop-edged leaf or stem, connecting at the center with a three-petaled flower resembling a bow. In this way, the connected design mimics the conjoined structure of the jugs.

The cobalt-highlighted letters M and B are impressed below the spout. According to the consignor, this piece originally descended in a New York State family by the name of Brewster. The two letters, therefore, may be the initials of its original owner, with the “B” referring to Brewster. However, it seems more likely that the letters refer to the contents of each jug. The best hypothesis on the meaning of these letters is that they refer to madeira and brandy. Madeira, a wine produced since the 16th century on the Portuguese island of Madeira, gained much popularity in 18th century America. It was favored by many of the founding fathers, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin, and was used to toast the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Madeira’s flavors and uses varied, largely depending upon the aging process and varieties of grapes used. Interestingly,  the wine’s long travels on ships exposed to the sun’s heat created a taste many found pleasing, and this accidental method of aging was later replicated on the island’s sun-drenched beaches. Brandy, whose name is derived from the Dutch word “brandewijn,” meaning “burnt wine,” was originally created from wine distilled in oak casks prior to shipment. The distillation was designed as a method of preservation and to reduce costs by concentrating the liquid; the product was diluted with water upon reaching its destination by ship. Consumers soon realized, however, that the undiluted wine had a robust and pleasing flavor, which was chemically altered by the distillation process,  and soon began drinking it without adding water. Most of us are aware of 18th and 19th century stoneware jugs and coolers bearing the impressed or incised inscription “BRANDY,” indicating its popularity in early America.

An interesting link can be found between madeira and brandy. Both have been frequently used together in cooking as a base for meat glazes, sauces, and marinades. I have also found a 19th century recipe for a cake made with both madeira and brandy. It is possible that this gemel saw more use as a kitchen accessory than as someone’s personal flask.

As far as its maker is concerned, the fat-bodied birds that adorn the front most closely resemble the work of the Crolius and Remmey family of Manhattan, NY. The  style of decoration on this example is so far unlike the bird designs of the potters of New Haven, CT, who produced most incised gemels known, that we can safely rule them out. Furthermore, the age does not strike me as early 1830′s, but much earlier, perhaps sometime around 1800. The motif of two facing birds may be an early predecessor to later paired bird designs used in Baltimore and Philadelphia by Henry Remmey, Henry Harrison Remmey, and Richard Remmey.

From the very beginning, we have always endeavored to add excitement to the collecting community and offer fresh-to-the-market examples of exceptional quality. 2009 has been a year that has fulfilled this hope of ours. This gemel follows in the wake of two other remarkable incised stoneware pieces we have offered this year, the first being an Albany, New York, cooler with fish and bird decoration, which set a stoneware specialty auction record at $103,500, and the second a Connecticut flask with bird and flowering urn decoration, which sold on July 11 for $40,250. Like these two other pieces, I believe this newly-surfaced gem will further support the claim that ceramics are the hottest commodity in American decorative arts today.

The chicken pecking corn motif, found primarily on pieces by several New York State and some New England makers, is one of the most recognizable designs in all of American stoneware. We’ve been consigned one of the most interesting examples of stoneware we’ve found decorated with this desirable scene for our July 11th auction. When I first saw this little piece, measuring just 5 1/4″ tall and 6″ wide from spout to rim, I was immediately taken with the size (especially considering the fact that this design is usually found on much larger pieces, usually between two and six gallons in size). This example holds only about a half-gallon.

While the reverse is decorated with a chicken pecking corn, the front features a design of a long-tailed bird perched on a stump. Based on the style of these designs, the pot was likely made at the Brady and Ryan pottery of Ellenville, NY, or the Adam Caire pottery of Poughkeepsie, NY. The form, like a cream jar with wide pouring spout, is highly unusual for New York State stoneware. We believe it is best classified as a batter bowl, with the tall, curved sides allowing for easy mixing. Its incredible condition suggests it saw little or no use.

The reverse bears the impressed name and date “VANCORTLANDT / 1884,” indicating that the pot was likely made as a presentation piece for a member of the prominent Van Cortlandt family of New York. Several Van Cortlandts are significant to New York state’s political history. Two Van Cortlands, Stephanus (1643-1700) and his brother Jacobus (1658-1739), served as mayor of New York City. Stephanus was also owner of large tract of land in Westchester County, NY, where Van Cortlandt Manor was built. This site can still be visited today, where tours of the many buildings and gardens are available. A second New York landmark, Van Cortlandt Park, which is located in the Bronx, is also named after Stephanus. A third Van Cortlandt, Frederick, built a mansion on this second site in 1748, which was used as George Washington’s headquarters for a period during the Revolutionary War. It was purchased by the City of New York in 1888, when it was converted into park land. Van Cortlandt Mansion now stands as a museum and includes many of the family’s original possessions. Since several Van Cortlandts were still living at Van Cortlandt Manor and Van Cortlandt Mansion during the 1880s, it is possible that the bowl we recently acquired was made for use on one of these two homesteads.

Regardless of who this piece’s intended owner really was, the exceptional size, form, and outstanding two-sided bird decoration, make it one of the more notable auction offerings of New York State stoneware in the past few years.

Growing up, I remember reading about Anna pottery in antiques books and was always fascinated by the stuff. A large snake jug I saw in an art magazine particularly made an impression on me. The jug was made of blue-decorated stoneware, something my family had been selling at antique shows for years, and yet the object seemed like something altogether different. The level of sophistication of the jug was unlike most of the stoneware we had sold, or seen for that matter. It was imbued with a sense of motion and seemed alive as several hand-modeled snakes slithered across its surface and formed its handle. A horrified man ‘s head and limbs protruded through the walls of the jug, his body trapped inside. If one of these objects was discovered from a different pottery, it would be hailed as a potter’s single greatest masterpiece. What is amazing is that two brothers, Wallace and Cornwall Kirkpatrick, who owned and operated Anna Pottery in Anna, IL, from 1859 to 1896, produced a large number of these extraordinary items. The intricate detail evident in their snake jugs and other highly decorated stoneware pieces makes one wonder, “When did they find the time to make standard utilitarian pots?”

The cover story of the April 24th issue of Antique Week, entitled “Anna Pottery Full of Imagination,” focuses on the Kirkpatricks and their various products. Since setting a record for an Anna pig bottle back in 2004, we have been fortunate enough to handle several fine examples of the brothers’ pottery, and were contacted by Antique Week for their article. My father, Anthony Zipp, was interviewed and some of the pieces we have sold through our auction,  Crocker Farm, are pictured. This article discusses the personal lives and interests of the Kirkpatricks and offers insight into how these influenced their work. Numerous Anna pottery forms are discussed and opinions on the current market are presented. The article is both a visually-appealing and informative read. You can read an online version of the article here.

Anna Pottery has been steadily on the rise in value over the past several years. It remains highly desirable today for a few important reasons. To begin with, it is rare enough to keep serious collectors seeking it and the value high. Secondly, and most importantly, it is pleasing to the eye. In the antiques world in general,  collectors love figural forms. In Anna pottery, human and animal shapes abound. There are pig bottles, frog inkwells, applied dung beetles and salamanders, male and female figures, and  snakes of all sizes. Many such objects and vessles are incised with whimsical and humorous phrases, related to the Temperance Movement or local politics. The all-too-well-known pig bottle, which features a drinking spout at the pig’s rear, is often painstakingly incised with a map of the Midwest. The highly decorative nature of these objects have made them quite popular in folk art circles, of which stoneware may make up only a small percentage. Examples can be found in notable collections across the country, including the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum in Williamsburg, VA, and the American Folk Art Museum in Manhattan. Similar to Shenandoah pottery, Moravian redware, and Pennsylvania-German sgraffitoware, Anna pottery has managed to cross the boundary of limited, regional interest.

Finally, Anna pottery makes a statement and a lasting impression on us. It will turn heads and draw attention even from people who have little interest in antiques or ceramics. When I’ve told my late 20′s friends (who know nothing about antiques) about selling an Anna pig bottle with a hole in its rear, it initiates some sort of response, a chuckle or look of disgust, and suddenly they’re interested. (I can also remember a New England folk art dealer’s look of surprise when he saw the underside of an Anna shoo fly jug a few years back during our auction preview.) It is a testament to the ingenuity of the Kirkpatrick brothers that their cleverly-crafted pieces still elicit a response in us over a hundred years later. And it is the pieces that make the biggest impression on us that we remember the best, love the best, and are truly worth collecting.