Exceptional Sixteen-Gallon Stoneware Jar with Profuse Freehand and Stenciled Cobalt Decoration, Stenciled "Hamilton & Jones Greensboro.", Pennsylvania origin, circa 1870, semi-ovoid jar with incised banding to body, tooled shoulder, semi-rounded rim, and applied lug handles, lavishly-decorated with freehand stripes, spots, and flowering vines to the upper body, the midsection with unusual single-line maker's stenciling, "Hamilton & Jones Greensboro.". Bottom half of jar with wonderful mix of freehand and stenciled decorations, including brushed vining, a band of stenciled stars surrounding by scalloped brushwork, brushed stripes, and a bold-faced stenciled "16" flanked by stenciled foliate motifs. Brushed cobalt highlights to handle terminals. The decoration reveals strong stylistic similarities with the finest work of a competitor in Greensboro, James Hamilton & Co., most notably in the use of stenciled stars surrounded by arched freehand brushwork. This outstanding jar, with its profuse, top-to-bottom decoration, embodies the exuberant style of the best Western Pennsylvania stoneware and is considered one of the finest examples of pottery from the region to come to auction in the past several years. Provenance: A fresh-to-the-market example, which descended in an Ohio family, recently discovered in a relative's home. Excellent condition with a few minor chips on interior of rim, two glazed-over handle chips, and some minor staining and minor wear to surface. H 22 1/2".
