Outstanding Redware Charger with Sgraffito Flowering Urn Motif, Dated 1801, attributed to the Mumbauer Pottery, Haycock Township, Bucks County, PA, 1801, with coggled edge and slip-coated interior, decorated with a sgraffito design of tulips and circular blossoms formed with a compass, all emanating from a stylized urn bearing the date, "1801." Heavy stippled sgraffito treatment to flowers and added crosshatched details to tulips. Surface covered in a clear lead glaze. This plate is distinguished by its remarkable condition and size, possibly measuring larger than any other circular dishes known from this shop. This 225-year-old plate was made within the first several years of the inception of Mumbauer's independent pottery and reveals the emergence of a circular blossom motif with curving petals- a design that would become a hallmark of wares produced by both Mumbauer and his apprentice, John Monday. Few examples of American sgraffito-decorated redware in this condition are known outside of museum collections. Literature: Illustrated in John Joseph Stoudt, Early Pennsylvania Arts and Crafts, p. 217. Provenance: Strassburger Collection; Miss Sarah Asherton Mendenhall Collection; Ex-David Wheatcroft. Excellent condition with a minor rim chip just above the 9:00 position and a minuscule glaze flake near rim. The orange spot at the dish's base is simply an as-made, glazed-over omission of the yellow slip. Diam. 13 1/8".
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