Extremely Rare Cobalt-Decorated Stoneware Pitcher with Applied Frog, Insect, and Flowering Lily Pad Motif, Inscribed "Dum Vivimus Bihmus", Signed "JP", American, circa 1885, ovoid pitcher with depressed sides, rippled rim, and applied high-arching handle. Surface heavily-decorated with a hand-modeled design of a group of blossoming lily pads including a frog attempting to eat an insect. Shoulder incised with the slogan, "Dum Vivimus Bibmus", which translates to "While we live, let us drink". Applied decoration, incised inscription, and handle highlighted in bright cobalt slip, including spotted brushwork to frog. Incised with the cobalt-highlighted initials, "JP", on reverse, most likely the signature of the maker. Interior covered in an Albany slip glaze. This pitcher seamlessly melds America's utilitarian stoneware craft with art pottery of the Arts & Crafts Movement. While utilizing a traditional pitcher form and traditional glazing materials (salt, cobalt-oxide, and Albany slip), this pitcher assumes a modern appearance with its pinched rim and depressed sides, reminiscent of the work of the "Mad Potter of Biloxi", George Ohr. The naturalistic motifs, including a spotted frog and insect, additionally relates this work to products of the Arts & Crafts Movement, possibly even to stoneware pieces made by the famed Kirkpatrick brothers of Anna, Illinois. Provenance: A fresh-to-the-market example, recently found in Florida. Expected losses to applied decoration. Frog reglued with a loss to front and rear leg. One rim chip. Two minor in-the-firing chips to interior of spout. H 8 1/2".
