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Exceptional Anna Pottery Salt-Glazed Stoneware Temperance Jug with Elaborate Applied Snake Decoration, attributed to Wallace and Cornwall Kirkpatrick, Anna, IL, circa 1877, bulbous jug with tall spout and semi-rounded mouth, the handle modeled in the form of a large snake coiled around the vessel's neck, the surface profusely decorated throughout with thirteen hand-modeled and applied snakes attributed to the hand of Wallace Kirkpatrick. The scales of each snake are created by impressing each figure with a crosshatched diamond pattern. Additional hand-incised crosshatching appears on the heads of the snakes, the eyes are formed from impressed circles, and the animal's mouths and nostrils are incised by hand as well. Each figure is decorated with brushed Albany slip spotting to the body and highlights to their heads and eyes, applied under a clear salt glaze. The overall style of this jug, including its glaze treatment and extraordinary number of snakes presented as its only subject matter, connect it to a few highly-regarded jugs inscribed "8 to 7," which served as political commentaries regarding a vote held on the contested U.S. Presidential Election of 1876. To our knowledge, only three "8 to 7" jugs are known. One sold in Crocker Farm's November 3, 2018 auction, lot 66, setting a world auction record at the time for Anna Pottery, selling for $141,600. It now resides in the Birmingham Museum of Art. A second has been owned by the Illinois State Museum since 1991. A third is in a private collection. While the jug in this auction is not inscribed "8 to 7," its uncanny similarities to the few known examples bearing this inscription indicate it was created about the same time, circa 1877, possibly to make the same political statement. The sheer number of snakes on this select group, and their complex application over the jugs' bodies, makes them among the Kirkpatricks' boldest and most expressive works. Of interesting note is that this jug was originally made with one more snake than the recording-setting example sold in 2018. Teeming with vitality, the vessel conveys a sense of realism in the sculpture of the snakes uncommon to 19th century American stoneware production, one likely inspired by Wallace Kirkpatrick's own fascination with these creatures. He kept his own menagerie of pet snakes that he had collected throughout the country and even displayed them at local fairs. While also being his own subject of interest, Wallace's use of snakes to decorate his ware follows the Biblical symbology of the animal representing evil or man's fallen state, associated with drunkenness and the state of America's political system. The temperance jugs of Anna Pottery are the most famous examples of their work and represent the zenith of their production outside of the highly important Liberty Monument, sold in Crocker Farm's 2021 auction, and the mysterious Pioneer Farm, which has since been lost to history. The Kirkpatricks' blend of traditional and almost-academic styles of using clay to produce something that is both a utilitarian object and a refined work of art with meaning has allowed this form to assume an iconic status that transcends the stoneware medium. Even in their day, Anna temperance jugs were copied by admiring potters throughout the Midwestern and Southcentral U.S., some previous Anna employees who took this idea with them as they established their own potteries. We are honored to bring this masterwork to light for the first time since its discovery roughly one-hundred years. This recently-surfaced masterwork Provenance: Recently surfaced in PA, this jug is believed to have been acquired by the consignor's grandparents, who collected art during the early 20th century. Literature: For the previously-mention Illustrated in Mohr, Pottery, Politics, Art: George Ohr and the Brothers Kirkpatrick, Urbana and Chicago, University of Illinois Press, 2003, color plate 4. The damage on this jug is consistent with the majority of the Anna temperance jugs including 2018's record-setting example. Professional restoration to much of open section of handle. Professional restoration to section of snake's body beside handle. One snake's upper body reglued with a chip along break. Section of small snake around neck of jug is reglued. Same snake missing head, an in-the-making loss that was brushed over with Albany slip prior to firing. Significant in-the-making loss to snake at base, the damage brushed over in Albany slip prior to firing. Missing stopper. H 9 1/4".
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