Very Rare Two-Gallon Stoneware Bowl with Cobalt Floral Decoration, Stenciled "W.R. ELAM / COLUMBiA. Tenn", attributed to J.H. Miller, Brandenburg, KY, circa 1860, tapered bowl with thin, semi-rounded rim and applied lug handles, decorated on the reverse with a bold flowering branch motif and on the front with the stenciled merchant advertising, "W.R. ELAM / COLUMBiA. Tenn". Impressed "2" below rim. Decoration, color, and style of stenciling, are all indicative of the work of J.H. Miller of Brandenburg, KY. William R. Elam was a merchant operating out of Columbia, Maury County, Tennessee. He appears in the 1860 census as "Hardware Merchant" in Maury County, and it was probably about this time that the bowl was made. Subsequently, Elam enlisted in the Confederate army, was wounded at Gettysburg, captured at Sailor's Creek, Virginia, in April 1865, and briefly held at Johnson's Island, Ohio, before being released in June of that year. He would resume trading out of Columbia by 1870. This bowl is the first example of the form we have seen produced at this important site. In addition, its advertising is considered exceptionally rare. A fine example of Kentucky stoneware made for the Tennessee market. Excellent, essentially as-made condition with minor in-the-firing chipping to base and a minor, in-the-firing chip to interior of rim, which is glazed over. H 6 7/8" ; Diameter 11 1/4".
