Loop-Handled Stoneware Jar with Watchspring Decoration, Abraham Mead, Greenwich, CT c1790

November 2, 2013 Stoneware Auction

Lot #: 23

Price Realized: DNMR

November 2, 2013 Auction Catalog

◀︎ Back to Catalog

▶ Login

Exceedingly Rare Two-Gallon Stoneware Jar with Cobalt Watchspring Decoration, attributed to Abraham Mead, Greenwich, CT, circa 1790, ovoid jar with footed base, heavily-tooled shoulder, and flared rim, the shoulders with applied open loop handles. Decorated on the front and back with a boldly slip-trailed vine featuring four coiled "watchsprings" and small leafy accents. Additional watchspring motifs descend from each handle terminal, flanking a slip-trailed number "2". A particularly fine example with wonderful decoration and exceptional color, featuring dark trails of cobalt against an evenly-fired, light clay ground. Few pieces by this important early Connecticut maker ever come to market, and eighteenth-century American stoneware objects of this decorative quality are considered very rare. This rarity is compounded by the jar's extraordinary condition. Provenance: Previously descended directly in the Mead family. Excellent, as-made condition with a contact mark on each side, an in-the-firing separation on underside, and some minor in-the-firing separations where handle terminals meet shoulder of jar.