Extremely Rare Kemple Pottery, Ringoes, NJ Stoneware Jug, 18th century

March 25, 2017 Stoneware Auction

Lot #: 298

Price Realized: $1,416.00

($1,200 hammer, plus 18% buyer's premium)

PLEASE NOTE: This result is 7 years old, and the American ceramics market frequently changes. Additionally, small nuances of color, condition, shape, etc. can mean huge differences in price. If you're interested in having us sell a similar item for you, please contact us here.

March 25, 2017 Auction Catalog

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Exceedingly Rare and Important Two-Gallon Stoneware Jug with Cobalt Floral and Watchspring Motifs, attributed to the Kemple Pottery, Ringoes, NJ, circa 1746-1795, ovoid jug with tooled shoulder, ribbed handle, and tall spout culminating in a semi-rounded lip, the front decorated with a slip-trailed floral design featuring two clover-shaped blossoms emanating from a stem with scrolled watchspring base. Reverse with slip-trailed watchspring motif emanating from the lower handle termnal, the upper terminal with additional cobalt highlight. Kemple family products are considered some of the rarest and earliest American stoneware objects known, with only a small body of intact pieces surviving today. This example is the first Kemple jug we have ever offered. Literature: For a jar bearing similar three-petaled floral and watchspring motifs, see Goldberg, Warwick, and Warwick, "The Eighteenth-Century New Jersey Stoneware Potteries of Captain James Morgan and the Kemple Family, Ceramics in America 2008, fig. 5. Provenance: A fresh-to-the-market example, purchased by the consignor decades ago. A chip to edge of spout and two nicks to top of spout. A 2" curved crack to surface on front with chipping along crack line. Base chips. Small in-the-firing iron pings to surface. H 15".