Exceedingly Rare Cobalt-Decorated Stoneware Jar, Stamped "R. BUTT / Monty Co. Md.," circa 1825, ovoid jar with tab handles, squared rim, and incised lines at shoulder, decorated on the front with a stylized brushed cobalt tree design with three branches bearing leaves. Reverse decorated with a large flower and stem extending from a group of leaves. Cobalt circles brushed at handle terminals. The only known example of Richard Butt stoneware from Montgomery County, MD. Richard Butt is known to have operated a pottery and asylum for the poor in Washington, D.C., circa 1830-43. Several pieces made at Butt"s Washington shop are known, impressed with variations of the mark "R. BUTT / W. City D.C.". The recent discovery of this Montgomery County, MD, jar shows that Butt was more involved with stoneware production than previously thought. Butt may have actually been a potter himself, although no known evidence fully proves this. He was born in Montgomery County and his family lived their for years. It is almost certain, therefore, that this jar was made before Butt"s career in Washington, D.C., sometime in the 1820"s. An extremely rare example of Maryland and D.C. area stoneware. Base chips and handle chip. H 12 1/4".
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