Very Rare and Fine Five-Gallon Open-Handled Stoneware Water Cooler with Profuse Cobalt Floral Decoration, Stamped "H.C. SMITH / ALEXA / D.C.," Wilkes Street Pottery, Alexandria, VA origin, circa 1845, gracefully potted, ovoid cooler with footed base, tall collar, large vertical handles, and tooled accents, the base fashioned with a carved tapering bunghole; brush-decorated on the front and reverse with lavish horizontal motifs of crossing flowers emanating from graduated clusters of leaves. The brushwork on the front showcases three different styles of flowers for which Alexandria's Wilkes Street Pottery is known. Cobalt highlights to handle terminals and bunghole. Impressed on collar with "H.C. SMITH / ALEXA / D.C." maker's mark, indicating it was made at Alexandria's Wilkes Street Pottery under the ownership of merchant, Hugh Charles Smith. The cooler's floral motif, closely related to designs by the Parr family of Baltimore, Maryland, was probably executed by James Shinnick, a Parr-trained itinerant potter, active for a period in Alexandria. Shinnick frequently decorated his wares produced in Alexandria, Strasburg, and Mt. Crawford, Virginia, with flowers as seen in the center of the design on this vessel's front. A tour-de-force of the Wilkes Street stoneware aesthetic, combining exceptional form, large size, and extravagant floral decoration. Among the finest examples of stoneware known bearing the mark of Hugh Charles Smith. Literature: Illustrated in Wilder, Alexandria, Virginia Pottery 1792-1876, p. 175. Large loss to bunghole. A 7/8" base chip. A tight crack across underside, forming a large Y to bottom half of cooler on reverse. Additional surface crazing to underside, not visible on interior. A 3" hairline from rim on reverse. A 4" hairline from collar on cooler's far right side. Some typical in-the-firing kiln furniture marks to surface. H 18 1/4".
