Lot #: 283
Price Realized: $2,300.00
($2,000 hammer, plus 15% buyer's premium)
PLEASE NOTE: This result is 10 years old, and the American ceramics market frequently changes. Additionally, small nuances of color, condition, shape, etc. can mean huge differences in price. If you're interested in having us sell a similar item for you, please contact us here.
Exceedingly Rare and Important Four-Gallon Stoneware Jar with Profuse Cobalt Floral Decoration and Freehand Inscription "N. COOPER & POWER," Stamped on Reverse "N. COOPER & POWER / MAYSVILLE, KY," attributed to William Leet Hamilton, Greensboro, PA, circa 1860, cylindrical jar with tooled shoulder, semi-rounded rim, and applied lug handles, featuring two incised bands girding the freehand cobalt inscription "N. COOPER & POWER." Wonderful freehand decoration throughout jar, including a sweeping vine above and large flowering vine below. Two large freehand stripes below rim. Heavy cobalt circles around handle terminals. Base inscribed "4", flanked by cobalt dashes. Impressed with the semi-circular merchant mark, "N. COOPER & POWER / MAYSVILLE, KY." on reverse, above a four-gallon capacity mark. Western Pennsylvania stoneware pieces with freehand inscriptions are considered extremely rare. This example is the first we have seen featuring a freehand inscription for the firm of N. Cooper and Power, run by Maysville, Kentucky merchant, Newton Cooper, and his brother-in-law, Hugh Power. A small number of finely-decorated stoneware pieces bearing "N. COOPER & POWER / MAYSVILLE, KY" impressed marks indicate the firm had successful business dealings with Greensboro, PA potters, who shipped their wares to Maysville down the Ohio River. The small, surviving body of work bearing this impressed mark suggests that the two merchants were in need of heavily-decorated ware. At the very least the Greensboro potters who made their pieces, primarily William Leet Hamilton, were willing to impress them with vivid freehand decorations--perhaps an attempt at keeping their buyers happy, or at wooing more clients from the South. Possibly the finest example of N. Cooper & Power advertising stoneware known, and an important ceramic object from the perspectives of both Southern and Western Pennsylvania stoneware enthusiasts. Provenance: A fresh-to-the-market example from a forty-year Southern U.S. collection. Professionally-restored U-shaped crack on reverse, measuring approximately 7 1/2" long. Faint 5 1/2" crack on side of jar at base, continuing onto underside. A small filled base chip. A glazed-over handle chip.
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