Exceedingly Rare and Important Small-Sized Stoneware Gemel with Incised Pheasant Decoration, Impressed with the Initials M and B, Manhattan, NY or New-Haven, CT origin, late 18th / early 19th century, conjoined ovoid jugs with tooled spouts and applied handle on reverse, decorated on each half with an incised pheasant with crest, ringed neck, heavily-incised tail, and wing outlined by a wavy incised line. Pheasants are perched on stylized branches joined in the center by a flower or bow. Decoration is filled with bright cobalt. Impressed "M" on one half and "B" on the opposite, perhaps for "madeira" and "brandy," which were used together in recipes for meat glazes, marinades, and in various other recipes of the period. Initials may instead represent the owner's initials. Spouts, handle terminals, and impressed initials highlighted in cobalt. This form was perhaps most popular among the potters of New Haven, CT, although the decoration most closely resembles designs found on pieces by the Remmey and Crolius families of Manhattan, NY. An outstanding form with exceptional size and decoration. This newly-surfaced example descended in a New York State family and was given as a gift to a Hanover, PA antiques dealer in the first half of the 20th century. One of the most important recent discoveries in American stoneware. As-made condition with a glazed-over, in-the-firing 1/2" x 5/8" base flake on reverse, and a few in-the-firing, glazed-over spout chips. H 6 1/4".
