Rare Lead-and-Manganese-Glazed Shenandoah Valley Redware Vase with Elaborate Applied Bird and Floral Decorations, Signed in Script "Anthony W. Bacher / 1850," Thurmont, MD or Adams County, PA origin, ovoid vase with footed base and tall collar, profusely decorated with four applied birds feeding from a flowering plant. A band of additional applied flowers decorates to vase's collar. Excellent, finely-incised detail to bird's wings and tails. Impressed and incised details to flowers and leaves. Coggled decoration to rim and impressed rosette decoration around base. Similar impressed floral motifs can be found on other Bacher products, as well as pieces by his protege, James C. Mackley, of Mechanicstown (now Thurmont), Maryland. Incised on underside in script "Anthony W. Bacher / 1850". Surface covered in a heavy lead glaze with manganese accents. This example is pictured and discussed on the lead page to Chapter V of William E. Wiltshire III's Folk Pottery of the Shenandoah Valley. While this piece is attributed to Bacher's Adams County, PA period, it is possible that it was produced during the early years of the Jacob Lynn shop in Thurmont, MD, where Bacher was sporadically employed for several decades of the 19th century. To support this possible origin is the fact that the glaze is more typical of Thurmont products made by Bacher and Mackley than Bacher's early pieces from Adams County, PA, which are typically black-glazed. An ambitiously-decorated example by one of the Shenandoah Valley's most highly-regarded potters. Literature: Pictured and discussed on pp. 100-101 of William E. Wiltshire III's Folk Pottery of the Shenandoah Valley. Missing both handles. Large losses to applied decoration. Chipping to base. H 5 7/8".
