Exceptional Three-Gallon Stoneware Jug with Slip-Trailed Bird Scene, Stamped "S D KELLOGG / WHATELY," circa 1851-1853, Massachusetts salt-glazed stoneware jug, slip-trail decorated with a turned-head dove atop a tree and flanked by tree and fences on each side. Henry C. Baldwin in A Guide to Whately Pottery and Potters attributes variants of this artistically rendered decoration to Silas D Kellogg"s wife, Maria Crafts Kellogg. According to Baldwin "nearly all of the decorations tell a story, also the foliage with a bird or without can be identified. The mourning dove and cherry trees with fruit was a common site at the Crafts farm. Maria, daughter of Caleb Crafts, . . . had been subjected to pottery her entire life. We have no doubt that she and her older sister Harriett had their fingers in the clay while in New York, then Maine, then New Hampshire and then Whately. The pottery has a woman"s touch in detail, decoration and finish ... . Her husband Silas was not a potter. We prefer to give her the credit, without any real proof except that she now was in charge of her own works next to Thomas Crafts and doing exactly as she wished in her own pottery works which she later sold to Thomas Crafts" (Baldwin, p. 17). There is little doubt that this jug bears the type of decoration Maria Crafts Kellogg would have painted. Scarce Massachusetts mark, outstanding decoration, and very interesting history. Excellent condition with a chip on top of spout by handle and a kiln mark on handle. Height 14 1/2".
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