Possibly Unique Half-Gallon Stoneware Jar with Elaborate Cobalt Floral Decoration, Incised "Henry Benner / Baltimore," MD origin, circa 1835, cylindrical jar with rounded shoulder and squared rim, brush-decorated around the upper body with a swag and hanging flower motif above groups of swags. Underside incised with the signature, "Henry Benner / Baltimore." While Henry A. Benner (ca. 1808-1857) was heavily involved in the Baltimore stoneware industry for over thirty years, this jar is the only signed example of his work known. Benner's thirty-plus year career beginning with an apprenticeship to William H. Amoss in 1826. A brother-in-law to well-known stoneware manufacturer David Parr, Jr., little is known about the specific potteries where Benner worked after his apprenticeship other than two colorful articles from the Spring of 1840, which tie him to the Brotherton manufactory at that time. Clearly an adversarial individual, a March 16, 1840, Baltimore Sun article describes the arrest of Samuel Majors, a fellow employee of Brotherton, on the charge of incendiarism (arson). Majors, intoxicated at the time, set fire to crates at the Brotherton shop in an attempt to harm Benner, who lived in an adjoining house. Shortly after, an April 13, 1840, Baltimore Sun article describes Benner's assault and battery charge stemming from a fight with another fellow Brotherton employee, Frederick Martin. Allegedly, the fight began when Benner "had said some naughty things about Martin's daughter..." Spotty Baltimore city directories establish Benner living on the east side of Baltimore and working as a potter until his death in 1857. Since the decoration of this jar resembles motifs used at shops owned by members of the Parr family, Benner likely worked at one or more Parr shops during his long career. Two minor chips to underside at edge. A minor rim chip. Minor in-the-firing flaws to surface. A short in-the-firing separation line from rim on interior, not visible on exterior. H 8 7/8".
