Exceedingly Rare and Important Three-Gallon Iron-Decorated Stoneware Jar with Incised Bird-in-Tree Motif, Inscribed "Joseph Snow / 1817," Stamped "BOSTON," Frederick Carpenter, Charlestown, MA, 1817, ovoid jar with open loop handles, tooled shoulder, combed incising to rim, and dipped iron-oxide decoration to upper and lower body. Front incised with a large (11" tall) design of a crested bird perched atop a tree. Incised above with the name, "Joseph Snow / 1817." Reverse impressed with "BOSTON." maker's mark, used by potter, Frederick Carpenter, at a merchant-owned stoneware manufactory in Charlestown, Massachusetts. While known for its beautiful potting, stoneware bearing any of the "BOSTON" maker's marks, made by Carpenter or Jonathan Fenton, were typically sparsely-decorated with stamped designs or simple dipped iron slip. Very few pieces featured freehand incised decoration and/or inscriptions as seen on this work. Among these are the "Elizabeth Tarbell" jar with incised bird and floral decoration (lot 1 in Crocker Farm's Spring 2021 auction), which set a world auction record for pottery made in the state of Massachusetts. As with the "Elizabeth Tarbell" jar, time was taken to uniquely decorate this piece made for Joseph Snow- at a pottery where decorative treatments after potting were designed to be quick and standardized. The "Joseph Snow" jar, combining classic Carpenter form and slip treatment with an outstanding incised decoration and inscription to the owner, ranks among this prolific potter's very best works. Shallow chips and wear to rim. Wear to inner rim for lid. A few typical, minor in-the-firing iron pings to surface. Some light surface wear. Base chips, most of which are very small. Minor traces old green-and-white paint, unrelated to any sort of restoration. H 14 1/2".
