Shenandoah Valley Multi-Glazed Redware Pitcher and Bowl Set, attributed to S. Bell & Sons, Strasburg, VA, circa 1890, wheel-thrown bowl with footed base, applied soap dish with coggled edge, and molded foliate handles, the reverse with applied "fiddlehead" scrollwork. Hand-modeled spheres of clay serve as decorative embellishments flanking the scrollwork and abutting the handles. Surface decorated with streaks of green copper and reddish-brown manganese glazes over a yellow clay ground and covered in a clear lead glaze. The original pitcher to this set includes heavily-splashed copper and manganese glazes. Its molded form, likely copied from an ironstone example, includes a footed base, spurred handle, and relief bow motif on the reverse shoulder. The molded pitcher form, molded handles on the bowl, as well as the slipless yellow clay used to create both, indicate this pitcher and bowl set was made at the S. Bell & Sons Pottery in Strasburg, Virginia. Bowl with restoration to one handle, restoration to interior base of soapdish, restoration to wear at bottom of bowl's foot, restoration to three shallow areas of wear or chipping to rim, and restoration to a small chip to edge of soapdish. Some additional very minor wear. Pitcher with exfoliation to body. H (of pitcher) 12 1/8" ; Diameter (of bowl) 17 1/2".
