HUGH SMITH & CO. Alexandria Stoneware Jar

July 17, 2010 Stoneware Auction

Price Realized: $1,840.00 ($1,600 hammer, plus 15% buyer's premium).

Extremely Rare Half-Gallon Stoneware Jar with Cobalt Floral Decoration, Stamped "HUGH SMITH & CO.," Alexandria, VA origin, circa 1820, ovoid jar with rounded foot and rolled rim, decorated with a stylized floral design, having a hollowed blossom extending from a leaved stem and surrounding the impressed mark of Alexandria merchant, Hugh Smith. This mark, which reads "HUGH SMITH & CO." is enclosed within an impressed rectangular border of leaf-like shapes. Typical of Alexandria stoneware, additional brushed cobalt leaves extend from the central blossom. Additionally impressed on the underside with a highly unusual capital "T" within a serrated border, possibly for African-American slave potter, Thomas Valentine. The mark "HUGH SMITH & CO." is one of the rarest Alexandria stoneware signatures known, possibly rivaling the elusive "J. SWANN / ALEXA" mark of potter, John Swann. This jar is the first example of Hugh Smith & Co stoneware we have offered, and one of the finest examples of Alexandria stoneware to be offered anywhere recently. Provenance: From a thirty year VA collection. As-made condition with a 1" very faint Y-shaped line on side of jar, which does not extend through to interior. H 8".

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