Exceptional Three-Gallon Stoneware Crock with Large and Elaborate Bird and Floral Decoration, Stamped "WM. E. WARNER / WEST TROY," New York State origin, circa 1850, cylindrical crock with semi-rounded rim and applied lug handles, decorated with a slip-trailed design of a large crested bird with lavishly-detailed body, perched on a flowering branch. Bird's body features heavy spotting to the chest, neck, and head, stripes to the wing, dashes to the tail, and the highly unusual addition of a curving vine with scrolled leaves, extending from the base of the tail to the neck. Excellent detail to the flowering vine, with scrolled leaves matching those found within the bird, as well as a nicely-detailed blossom with spotted interior. Cobalt highlights to maker's mark and capacity mark. This crock's distinctive treatment of heavy spotting and vining to the body of the bird can be observed in some of the best examples of J. & E. Norton stoneware from Bennington, VT as well as works from the shop of Boston, MA potter, Martin Crafts, indicating the itinerance of a decorator, possibly New York State potter, James Reilly, traveling between New York State and New England. An important six-gallon Norton crock with elaborate slip-trailed Federal eagle motif, inscribed "USA," appears to be decorated by the same hand, as does a three-gallon Norton jug with bird on flowering vine motif, illustrated on the cover of Cesana and Leder's The Birds of Bennington and sold in Crocker Farm, Inc.'s Spring 2024 Auction, lot 86. The same can be said of the two-gallon Martin Crafts jar offered in July's auction. Imaginative and exuberant decoration and easily one of the finest bird designs known from William Warner's shop. Provenance: Crocker Farm, Inc., November 2, 2013, lot 214. Two chips to one handle. Colored chips to interior of rim. Otherwise excellent condition. H 9 7/8".
