Exceedingly Rare and Important Glazed Redware Jar with Brushed Manganese "Snake" Motif, attributed to Christopher Alexander Haun, Greene County, TN, circa 1840-1860, ovoid jar with footed base, delicate ribbed-strap handles, and tall, tapering collar with flattened rim; brush-decorated around the body with three vertical undulating stripes of manganese slip, applied under a clear lead glaze. Shoulder impressed with a band of coggled motifs featuring a pinwheel, crosshatched panel, diagonal bars, a stylized flower, and a series of opposing curved bars. Each handle terminal impressed with a relief star within a repeating diamond border. This iconic jar is responsible for the discovery of "Great Road Pottery" as a distinct school of American redware. The vessel's story is outlined in the introduction to Carol Carpenter Wahler's Tennessee Turned: Earthenware and Stoneware Made in East Tennessee 1800-1900, Part One, an essay written by J. Roderick Moore, entitled "A Brief History of the Discovery and Documentation of East Tennessee Earthenware." Moore writes, "I was still doing research on Wythe County, Virginia, safes and blanket chests, so I was not really looking for a new subject to study until one Saturday morning at the Kingsport Livestock Market. Mary Ellen Walker of Morristown, Tennessee, brought a piece of boldly decorated earthenware pottery to show me (Plate No. 7, Catalog No. 47). She had purchased it locally but did not have any idea where it was made or by whom. I must admit that I had seen nothing like it. The first that came to my mind was that the piece was not American. We have since dubbed it the 'snake jar.' . . . [W]hen I first saw the "snake jar" and it did not resemble anything I had ever seen before, I thought it could not be local or even American. I probably would have walked away from it had it not been for my wife at the time, Betsy Eaton. She said, 'Regardless of where it's from, buy it.' Mary dropped her price from $35 to $28 and I purchased it! By chance that same day Betsy and I drove about 15 miles to Rocky Mount Museum in Piney Flats, Tennessee, to see a Virginia applique quilt which we had heard about and did I get an education! In their visitor's center and historical building, there were more than 20 pieces of pottery related to the 'snake jar.' Since it was Saturday, the museum curator was not there but the labels on the pots said the Morton sisters, of a Sullivan County family, had given the collection to the museum. My mind was racing- over 20 pots given by two local sisters and the 'snake jar' showing up within the region. I knew enough about Strasburg, Virginia, and North Carolina pottery to know that I was looking at a whole new style of Southern pottery as far as the antiques world was concerned. On our way home from the museum, we stopped at Marc [King's] and told him what we had seen. I said that I felt I had discovered a new school of Southern decorated pottery. . . In 1983 my article "Earthenware Potters Along the Great Road in Virginia and Tennessee" came out in the September issue of The Magazine Antiques. I say it cracked the door on the subject, but Carole insists it did more than that. She maintains that it was the foundation upon which collectors built their interest in southwestern Virginia and eastern Tennessee pottery" (Wahler pp. 9 -11).
Featuring classic Haun potting, a band of coggled designs around the shoulder, and decorative stamping to the handle terminals, this jar is distinguished by its three sinuous, snake-like motifs extending from shoulder to base in brushed manganese slip. Both seemingly ancient and modern all at once, Haun's "snake jar" is a timeless work that captures this potter's genius, standing as one of the great representative examples of Tennessee redware. Exhibited: Tennessee Turned, Earthenware and Stoneware Made in East Tennessee 1800-1900, Museum of East Tennessee History, May 16-October 30, 2011. Literature: Wahler, Tennessee Turned, Earthenware and Stoneware Made in East Tennessee 1800-1900, Part One, discussed on p. 9, 10, and 196; illustrated on p. 54, fig. 47, p. 85, pl. 7, p. 196, fig. 47, and p. 229, pl. 7. Very nice condition for redware of this origin. Wear to rim and base. Surface abrasions to body of jar. Handles with minor chipping and minor wear. An in-the-firing contact mark to front and reverse. H 12 3/4".
