Exceedingly Rare and Important Glazed Redware Bowl with Distinctive Slip Tulip Decoration, attributed to Peter Bell, Hagerstown, MD, circa 1815, finely-potted bowl with rounded foot and triple-beaded rim in the Hagerstown style. Decorated with manganese slip on the interior with Bell-style tulips extending from a central stem surrounded by several rows of stripes, a wavy stripe at the shoulder, and a final circumferential stripe at the rim. This bowl is possibly one of two of the earliest examples of pottery decorated with the Bells' prolific tulip decoration, and can be viewed as a predecessor of later designs used by Peter Bell's descendants. A bowl with nearly identical decoration was sold at auction by Crocker Farm, Inc. in July of 2009. Variants of this motif would be used for several decades by Peter Bell's sons, John, Samuel, and Solomon, as well as his grandchildren in both Waynesboro and Strasburg. For an example of John Bell pottery using a variation of this design, see H.E. Comstock's The Pottery of the Shenandoah Valley Region, p. 116, fig. 4.96. For an example of similarly-decorated Samuel Bell stoneware, see Comstock, p. 267, fig. 5.19. Numerous rim chips. Wear to interior. H 3" ; Diameter 12".
