BOONVILLE, Missouri, Stoneware Jar w/ Federal Eagle
November 6, 2010 Stoneware Auction
Lot #: 147
Price Realized: DNMR
Extremely Rare Stoneware Jar with Cobalt Federal Eagle Decoration and the Date 1832, Stamped "BOONVILLE," Boonville, MO origin, very large rotund-formed jar with arching tab handles and semi-squared rim, measuring approximately eight gallons in size. The front decorated with a brushed cobalt design of a federal eagle, a shield across its chest, its talons clutching olive branches and arrows, and the date "1832" brushed below. Surface of handles brushed completely over with cobalt. Impressed with the very rare makers mark, "BOONVILLE," at the shoulder, referring to the town of Boonville, Missouri. The majority of surviving Missouri stoneware pieces are simply decorated and date to several decades later. According to The Arts and Architecture of German Settlements in Missouri ... by Charles Van Ravenswaay, the Boonville stoneware pottery was founded by Rockbridge County, Virginia, native Marcus Williams; Williams started the venture "some time before 1833, which he advertised in that year was producing ‘pitchers, crocks, jars, pans, churns, &c.'" Williams' Rockbridge County origin is evident in both the form and decoration of the vessel. A small number of Rockbridge County stoneware pieces exist bearing patriotic eagle decorations. What could be called the Rockbridge County school of stoneware pottery, within which this piece was clearly made, was founded by John Morgan, a Manhattan stoneware potter (and close associate of free African American potter Thomas Commeraw), who settled in Rockbridge County sometime circa 1815-25. The impressive size of this jar, its highly unusual maker's mark, and its outstanding decoration all translate to a Southcentral U.S. pottery piece of great importance. This jar is certainly one of the finest examples of Missouri stoneware known, and is possibly the state's earliest known dated piece. Small chip to one handle and two small chips to opposite handle. Base chips. Small nick on top of rim. 2 1/4" faint surface line on underside, continuing 3 1/4" up base of jar, both not visible on interior. H 17".
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