Scarce att. W.J. Gordy (Primrose, Georgia) Stoneware Devil Figural Bottle

Fall 2020 Stoneware Auction

Lot #: 184

Price Realized: $1,200.00

($1,000 hammer, plus 20% buyer's premium)

PLEASE NOTE: This result is 4 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.

Fall 2020 Auction Catalog

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Scarce Stoneware Devil Figural Bottle, attributed to William Joseph Gordy, Cartersville, GA, 20th century, wheel-thrown bottle in the form of a devil with applied facial features, including horns, tusks, goatee, and pointed ears, the sides with applied angled arms and sculpted hands at waist, the reverse with applied forked tail extending to the figure's neck. Original black-painted surface with red highlights. William Joseph Gordy (1910-1993) was the son of Georgia potter, William Thomas Belah Gordy (1877-1955). According to Burrison's Brothers in Clay, W.J. Gordy was turning "bigware" by the age of fourteen at his father's shop in Alvaton, and later worked as a journeyman for potter, James Reid, in Acworth. for the Hilton Pottery Company in Hickory, NC, and Herman Cole in Smithfield, NC. In 1935, Gordy traveled back to Georgia, establishing the Georgia Art Pottery in Cartersville (Burrison, p. 175-176). Few of his devil bottles have been documented. The base clay, painted surface, and overall style of this bottle suggests it is a particularly early work by Gordy. In-the-firing loss to nose. Professional restoration to pointed sections of ears. Professional restoration to section of one horn and most of other horn. H 9".