Extremely Rare Stoneware Jar with Incised Fish and Bird Decorations and Coggled Vine Motif, Stamped Twice "PAUL : CUSHMAN'S," Paul Cushman Pottery, Albany, NY, circa 1810, ovoid jar with footed base, tooled shoulder, and rounded lug handles, decorated on one side with an incised and cobalt-highlighted design of a fish above the coggled and cobalt-highlighted maker's mark, "PAUL : CUSHMANS." Further coggled below the rim with a second "PAUL : CUSHMANS" maker's mark. Reverse decorated with an incised and cobalt-highlighted design of a long-tailed bird, perched on a bent, leafy branch extending from a tree stump. A coggled vine design extends completely around the shoulder of the vessel. The bird's reaching head gives the impression that the creature is feeding on the vine above. Brushed cobalt highlights to handle terminals. Either a single incised bird or fish would make this jar a noteworthy example of stoneware from this shop. Its depiction of both of these motifs on opposing sides of the vessel places it among the more finely-decorated examples of Cushman stoneware known. Provenance: Cathy Treffeisen Collection. A restored 1 1/2" x 1" chip at rim, involving the letter "H" in "CUSHMAN." Smaller unrestored rim chips. Extensive chipping around foot. Various in-the-firing contact marks to surface, typical of pieces of this age and origin. H 13 1/8".
