Important and Unique Five-Gallon Stoneware Crock with Elaborate Cobalt Cat and Yarn Decoration, Stamped "W.H. FARRAR & CO. / GEDDES.N.Y.," Inscribed "Geddesburg," circa 1850, cylindrical crock with tooled shoulder, semi-squared rim, and applied lug handles, decorated with an exceptionally large brushed and slip-trailed design of a cat playing with a ball of yarn. Imaginatively executed with a wonderful folk art aesthetic, the design features bold swathes of brushed cobalt forming the figure's body, forehead and ball, slip-trailing to the face, arms, tail and surrounding the figure, as well as upswept slip-trailed swags throughout the body. Sgraffito-style incised details to the fur appear throughout the head and neck, additional incising delineates the cat's front legs and toes, and a charming incised spiral fills the center of the ball of yarn. Heavy cobalt brushwork below forms a stylized ground incised with the name, "Geddesburg," a reference to the town of Geddes, where the crock was made. Cobalt highlights to maker's mark. Underside inscribed prior to firing with the rare reddish-slip inscription, "19 1/4 (?)," possibly referring to a measurement of the crock prior to firing, and "A. Strever," referring to the person for whom the crock was made. Aaron Strever, the crock's original owner, was a farmer born in 1818 in Ancram, New York, who married Emily Soule about 1848 in Chatham, New York, and died in 1898 in the town of Clay, New York, located in Onondaga County, about twelve miles north of Geddes. The inscription on the underside and extreme rarity of the design suggests the piece was specially ordered by Strever or made as a gift for him in honor of the family cat. Remarkably, this crock was discovered in the Strever home roughly 70 years after it was made when the property was sold to Stella West in the 1920s. West eventually sold the crock and it was then offered at Denlinger Auctions in Bennington, VT in 1987, after which it has remained unknown to the greater collecting community. An iconic masterwork, well-remembered among stalwart stoneware enthusiasts, this crock bears what is regarded as the finest known depiction of a house cat in 19th century American stoneware. The design's intense visual appeal, created through its multiple decorative techniques, bold color, and imposing size (spanning thirteen inches around the curve of the vessel and ten inches tall), place it among the best representations of an animal in the entire Northeastern stoneware tradition. In a broader sense, it can be regarded among the great examples of a cat in 19th century folk portraiture. Provenance: Made at the William H. Farrar pottery for Aaron Strever; Later acquired by Stella West in the 1920s, after purchasing the Strever property; Purchased from Stella West; Denlinger Auctions, Bennington, VT, 1987. A sealed diagonal crack extending from rim to shoulder on front. In-the-firing iron pings to surface. Two small surface flakes to shoulder on front. A long, sealed curving crack from rim on reverse extending onto proper right side of crock's front. Some light fry to cobalt. A few base chips. A few very minor flakes to base. H 14".
