Extremely Rare Three-Gallon Stoneware Jar with Coggled Gate-and-Fence Post Motif and Large Cobalt People Decoration, attributed to John Greenland, Connelsville, PA, circa 1865-1870, cylindrical jar with rounded shoulder, flattened rim, and molded handles with raised columnar pattern, the front decorated with a large brushed design of two people, one with raised arm, holding a cane. Reverse decorated with a large brushed tulip design. Additional cobalt highlights to handle terminals and tops of handles. Shoulder decorated with a coggled arched-gate-and-fence-post motif. Reverse impressed with distinctive three-gallon capacity mark within an oval. This jar is easily attributed to Greenland based on the styles of its people decoration and molded handles. Similarly-brushed people, as well as the same molded handles, can be seen on an iconic Civil War military procession jar, stamped "J. GREENLAND", in the collection of the William C. and Susan S. Mariner Southern Ceramics Gallery at the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts in Winston-Salem, NC. Greenland's work is considered the rarest among three major centers of "people crock" production in the region: Morgantown, WV, Uniontown, PA, and Connelsville, PA. Provenance: A previously-undocumented example, which descended in the the family of the consignor. Literature: For discussion of John Greenland and an illustration of his military procession, see Schaltenbrand, Big Ware Turners, pp.162-163. In-the-firing warping to rim. Excellent condition with two small base chips, a minor base nick, and in-the-firing warping to rim. H 12 1/4".
