Very Rare One-Gallon Stoneware Jar, Stamped "J.S. NASH," Jefferson S. Nash or possibly Milligan Frazier, Marion County, Texas origin, circa 1865, cylindrical jar with tooled shoulder and thin, semi-rounded rim, the surface covered in a chocolate-brown alkaline glaze with overlying dark-brown streaks and mottling, the jar's shoulder including an interesting reddish-brown spot. Impressed below the rim with the maker's mark of Jefferson S. Nash, an Edgefield, South Carolina-trained potter, who established a shop in Marion County, Texas during the mid 19th century. Pieces such as this jar, which bear a distinctive mottled-brown alkaline glaze, have been attributed to Milligan Frazier, an African-American potter involved for a period at Nash's operation. A Texas newspaper article run in the February 17, 1974 edition of The Longview Morning Journal, discusses Frazier and his pottery, including the distinctive brown glazes he produced, which were sometimes accented with clear glass runs. Amazingly, this information was provided by Nash's elderly son, leaving little doubt to its veracity. According to this article, Frazier was eventually producing ware independently at his homestead near the Nash site, known as "Milligan's Jug Works". Glass used to produce the glazes was acquired from local townspeople in the form of "old bottles, snuff jars, and blue glass bottles". The glazing process is described as follows: "First he would grind the glass into a fine powder, then mix it with powdered sand rock and water until it was like paint, then roll the pottery piece in the mixture. This finished, he would sprinkle finely ground white glass over the rim and rop, thus resulting in a variance of color after the pieces were baked. Browns of varying shades, streaked with black, seemed to be the dominant colors for his works". This jar, as well as a signed ring jug sold in Crocker Farm, Inc.'s November 2, 2013 auction, bear this distinctive "brown. . . streaked with black" glaze, indicating the jar may have been made, or at least decorated, by Frazier. A fine example of Southcentral U.S. stoneware with a link to the Edgefield potting tradition. Very few signed examples of stoneware produced at the Nash Pottery have come to auction in the past several years. Provenance: A fresh-to-the-market example, recently found on the U.S. west coast. Excellent, essentially as-made condition. H 9 1/2".
