Extremely Rare and Important Miniature Stoneware Jug with Cobalt Watchspring and Foliate Decorations, attributed to Adam States, Sr., Manhattan, NY, circa 1745, ovoid jug with tooled spout and thin strap handle, decorated on the front with a slip-trailed cobalt leaf design, and on the reverse with circular "watchspring" motifs around the base of the handle. An important stoneware teapot with similar foliate decoration and color, incised "Elizabeth States her Pot," is also attributed to Adam States, Sr. It is believed States made the teapot for his wife between 1743 and 1746, while active in Manhattan, NY, before establishing a long-standing pottery in Greenwich, Connecticut (Goldberg, Warwick, and Warwick, Ceramics in America 2008, p. 35). The noted potter, Abraham Mead, who produced a number of outstanding dated stoneware vessels, was apprenticed to States during his tenure in Connecticut. This jug is a significant new discovery in American ceramics, as well as the earliest example of American stoneware to come on the market in years. It is also one of the earliest intact examples of Manhattan stoneware to have surfaced. For more information, see Goldberg, Warwick, and Warwick, "The Eighteenth-Century New Jersey Stoneware Potteries of Captain James Morgan and the Kemple Family," Ceramics in America 2008, pp. 33-35. Near Mint condition with minor base chips. H 4 1/4".
