Extremely Rare Alkaline-Glazed Stoneware Vase with Applied Snake and Grapes, Incised on Underside "Lanier Meaders," Cleveland, Georgia, circa 1978, tall vase with ovoid shoulder, flared rim, and olive-colored alkaline glaze, decorated with a large applied clay snake and grape vine motifs. Snake features excellent detail throughout, including balled clay eyes and brushed cobalt crosshatching with brown spots over a yellow clay ground. Large applied decoration of cobalt-decorated grapes flanked by dark-olive-colored leaves and vines on the front and reverse. Incised signature on underside. It is believed that Meaders produced very few snake vases, and we can find no other auction house records of an example selling within the last decade or more. A masterpiece by Georgia's premier folk potter and one of his finest works to come to auction in years. Provenance: A fresh-to-the-market example, consigned from the West Coast. Literature: For discussion of this Meaders form, see John Burrison, Brothers in Clay, University of Georgia Press, 2008, p. 273; Similar vase pictured on cover of John Burrison, From Mud to Jug, University of Georgia Press with the Folk Pottery Museum of Northern Georgia, 2010. Excellent, as-made condition with a 1" firing crack from rim. H 13 5/8".
