Extremely Rare J FENTON (Dorset, VT, c1805) Stoneware Jug w/ Impressed Fish Decoration

Fall 2025 Stoneware Auction

Lot #: 107

Price Realized: $2,160.00

($1,800 hammer, plus 20% buyer's premium)

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Fall 2025 Auction Catalog

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Very Rare Stoneware Jug with Impressed Fish Decoration, Stamped "J. Fenton," probably Dorset, VT origin, circa 1805, ovoid jug with rounded mouth and heavy tooling to shoulder and neck, decorated with an impressed and cobalt-highlighted design of a fish below the cobalt-highlighted maker's mark of Jonathan Fenton. Brushed cobalt highlights to handle terminals. Significantly rarer than fish-decorated pieces produced during Fenton's 1793-1796 tenure in Boston, this work features a different maker's mark and different color to the clay. Of interesting note is the fact that the jug's maker's mark is also different than the stamp typically seen on his Dorset products, which features the potter's name in capitalized letters. As noted by stoneware authority, Lorraine German, Fenton was also active in Walpole, New Hampshire in 1796 and present-day Bloomfield, Connecticut, from 1798-1801, offering the possibility that this unusually-marked jug was made at one of these locations. Significant lines throughout, forming thin cracks in areas. In-the-making spatter of brown slip to one side. Surface wear to midsection. An additional spot of surface wear to jug's neck. A smooth in-the-firing contact mark near midsection on reverse. H 15 1/2".