Exceedingly Rare and Important Stoneware Water Cooler with Incised Decorations of a Bird, Branch, and Man, Inscribed "John Tyler / Vetoes / No boddy(sic)," Dated 1842, attributed to John Floyd at the Graves Pottery, Knox County, TN, 1842, ovoid form with tall collar, two vertically-applied handles, and applied circular bunghole at base, decorated on the front with an incised and cobalt-highlighted design of a ring-necked bird with crest, standing atop a stylized leaf, beside the brushed-cobalt date, "1842." Reverse decorated with an incised and cobalt-highlighted foliate design in the Manhattan style, above an incised and cobalt-accented design of a standing man, possibly hanging from a noose, flanked by the incised inscription, "John Tyler / Vetoes / No boddy(sic)." Brushed cobalt highlights to bunghole and handle terminals. Reverse impressed below rim with four-gallon capacity mark. Includes original domed lid with pointed finial and brushed spot decoration. The following excerpt from Wahler's Tennesssee Turned, Earthenware and Stoneware Made in East Tennessee 1800-1900, Part One outlines the somewhat-mysterious life of potter, John Floyd: "John Floyd, born in Virginia, was listed as a potter in the Knox County 1850 population census. He apparently worked for George Graves. The word apparently is used because documentation exists of a land transaction in 1831 in which John Floyd purchased land for the use of G. Graves. Floyd then traveled back and forth to Ohio between 1831 and 1850. He has not been located in the population census or other records in 1840. His first four children were born in Ohio between 1840 and 1849. His fifth child was born in Knox County in 1851. Floyd remained in Knox County until after 1870. The town of Corryton was originally called Floyd Station" (Wahler, p. 14). The vessel's curious inscription, "John Tyler / Vetoes / No boddy(sic)," reveals a humorous or sarcastic side to Floyd. As tenth president of the United States, John Tyler (1790-1862) frequently used his veto power, ultimately leading to an investigation started by then-representative, John Quincy Adams, in the Summer of 1842, the same year that this cooler was made. Many of Tyler's vetoes involved decisions regarding the nation's finances that were supported by the Whig Party. On August 10 of that year, Adams, who, like Tyler, was a Whig, declared on the House Floor that the president's actions put the legislative and executive branches "in a state of Civil War." Many called for Tyler's impeachment. On August 30, 1842, Tyler gave an apology to the country, but stated that his actions were within his power and that he had “been accused without evidence and condemned without a hearing.†He added that he would face trial rather than resign. Tyler ended up vetoing six more bills during his presidency, until the last day of the 27th Congress in March of 1843, when the House successfully overrode a presidential veto for the first time in the country's history. In her notes, Wahler suggests that this inscription may specifically refer to Tyler's "1842 tariff vetoes." One of the standouts from her collection, this work is elevated by its exceptional form and over-the-top decorations and inscription. Its incised decoration, rarely-seen in Southern production, relate it to the Manhattan, New York potting tradition. This relationship is most evident in the incised foliate motif or branch on the reverse, which closely resembles those found on various marked Crolius, Remmey, Commeraw, and Morgan products from late 18th and early 19th century Manhattan. A related lidded cooler with incised floral motif, inscribed, "Made by Jn Floyd / June 30 1857 / Knox Couty(sic) Tenn," was sold in Crocker Farm's January 2025 auction of the Carole Wahler Collection, lot 46. The cooler in our January 2026 auction is perhaps the most ambitiously-decorated example of incised salt-glazed stoneware known from the state of Tennessee, incorporating two different figural motifs along with its foliate design. Exhibited: Art of Tennessee, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, September 13, 2003 to January 18, 2004; Tennessee Turned, Earthenware and Stoneware Made in East Tennessee 1800-1900, Museum of East Tennessee History, May 16-October 30, 2011. Literature: Illustrated in Wahler, Tennessee Turned, Earthenware and Stoneware Made in East Tennessee 1800-1900, Part One, p. 103, fig. 108, p. 121, p. 19, p. 209, fig. 108, and p. 230, pl. 19. For information on Floyd, see Wahler, pp. 14-15. Provenance: Wahler states the following about this cooler in her notes: "Purchased from descendant of James Madison Carter, Knox County. Carter drove stagecoach between Nashville and New York. His route passed near Graves Pottery. . . Remained in the original family until acquired by James J. Nicely. CW [Carole Wahler] purchased from his brother Bill Nicely. . . CW wanted it from the first that she saw it almost 20 years before she was able to purchase it." A sealed crack extending from rim midsection on front. A sealed crack descending from rim to shoulder on reverse. An additional thin, approximately 3" diagonal line from rim on reverse, which is sealed. A sealed 5 1/2" crack on underside, extending as a thin line approximately 5 1/2" up base on proper left side of cooler. Lid broken into five pieces and reglued with losses and chipping around edge and flange on underside. H (including lid) 17 1/2".
