Lot #: 306
Price Realized: $2,714.00
($2,300 hammer, plus 18% buyer's premium)
PLEASE NOTE: This result is 5 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.
Extremely Rare Salt-Glazed Stoneware Lamb Doorstop, attributed to J. Eberly & Co., Strasburg, VA or Peter Herrmann, Baltimore, MD, circa 1890, large-sized, molded figure of a reclining lamb with well-detailed coat, composed of a light-gray clay and covered in a salt glaze. Hollowed underside. Typically found in slip-washed redware, this iconic Shenandoah Valley form is one of a very few Eberly lamb doorstops known produced in the salt-glazed stoneware medium. The elusive stoneware examples of this form have been attributed to the Eberly Pottery in Strasburg, VA because they were produced from the same mold as their redware counterparts. However, the important history of this example and its light-colored clay, characteristic of Baltimore stoneware, suggest it may have been made by Baltimore potter, Peter Herrmann. Another possibility is that Daniel Letcher Eberly, ever aware of ceramic materials throughout the country, ordered Baltimore clay to produce his stoneware lambs. The lamb may have ended up in Herrmann's hands through some unknown association with the Eberly Pottery or a worker previously employed there. Interestingly, it includes two hand-incised pupils on its eyelids, given the animal the appearance it is awake rather than sleeping. Provenance: Descended in the family of Baltimore, MD potter, Peter Herrmann. Excellent, essentially as-made condition. L 11 1/4".
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