Exceptional Four-Gallon Stoneware Jar with Large Impressed Man-in-the-Moon Decoration, attributed to Xerxes Prices, Sayreville, NJ, early 19th century, ovoid jar with footed base, heavily-tooled shoulder, and applied lug handles, decorated with a large impressed medallion featuring a bearded man's profile with circular and scalloped borders. Brushed cobalt slip to medallions and handle terminals. This jar is the finest example of stoneware bearing the early impressed man-in-the-moon motif that we have seen. It is the largest of the three that we have offered, as the medallion motif is the largest we observed on any of these pieces, measuring 2 5/8" in diameter. A jar with a smaller variant of this design, lacking the outer ring, was sold as lot 226 in our May 21, 2005 auction, and a second jar with a more simplified man-in-the-moon motif was sold as lot 38 in our October 22, 2016 auction. The former was attributed to Xerxes Price, the latter was believed to have been made at the Morgan-van Wickle Pottery of Old Bridge, NJ or Josiah Chapman Pottery of Troy, NY. The jar offered in this sale includes a raised band on the exterior shoulder area, which indicates it may have been thrown in two sections. Provenance: A fresh-to-the-market example, purchased by the consignor decades ago. A 2 1/2" in-the-firing line on interior, not visible on exterior. Small rim chips. A 1 3/4" line at base. Base chips. Some typical, small in-the-firing flaws to surface. H 13".
