Exceedingly Rare One-Gallon Cobalt-Decorated Stoneware Pitcher, Stamped "H. SMITH & Co.," Wilkes Street Pottery, Alexandria, VA, circa 1825, ovoid pitcher with applied strap handle, decorated with an elaborate brushed cobalt sunflower decoration, with the head surrounding the maker's mark, along with stems with leaves trailing to the left and right. Collar heavily decorated with brushed leaf and flower motifs. A band of brushed cobalt decorates the pitcher's base. Produced at Alexandria's Wilkes Street Pottery, then owned and operated by merchant Hugh Smith and his son, Hugh Charles Smith. Alexandria, VA, stoneware pitchers are considered very rare. This particular example is one of a small number of pitchers known bearing this early Smith family mark. A copy of Alexandria, Virginia Pottery 1792-1876 by Eddie L. Wilder is included with this lot. Literature: Pictured on p. 94 of Eddie L. Wilder, Alexandria, Virginia Pottery, 1792-1876. Wilder describes this pitcher as a "superior example," also noting that the cobalt band at base is "uncharacteristic of most Alexandria pottery". Professionally-restored wedge out of collar to left of handle. H 10 3/4".
