Exceptional Clark Pottery, Athens, NY Stoneware Water Cooler w/ Lion's Head Handles

November 3, 2018 Stoneware Auction

Lot #: 159

Price Realized: $649.00

($550 hammer, plus 18% buyer's premium)

PLEASE NOTE: This result is 6 years old, and the American ceramics market frequently changes. Additionally, small nuances of color, condition, shape, etc. can mean huge differences in price. If you're interested in having us sell a similar item for you, please contact us here.

November 3, 2018 Auction Catalog

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Exceptional Double-Spouted Stoneware Water Cooler with Lion's Head Handles and Cobalt Floral Decoration, attributed to the Clark Pottery, Athens, NY, circa 1835-1845, approximately five-gallon, highly-ovoid form with tall collar and molded, scallop-edged bungholes on the front and reverse, the handles molded in the form of open-mouthed lion's heads. Front decorated with a large flowering plant bearing three blossoms with fern-liked details to the petals. This cooler features some of the largest and most impressive lion's head handles that we have seen on a piece of American utilitarian pottery, each with a gaping mouth and lower lip forming a pocket-like protrusion. Small hand-incised circles accent the lion's muzzle. A striking and artistic work, successfully combining wheel-thrown, molded, and brush-applied decorative elements, created by one of New York State's foremost stoneware producers. Provenance: Ex-Willard Grande. A faint circular area of smooth chipping to underside suggests this cooler most likely sat on a pedestal base of some sort, a piece, which, if ever part of the cooler, must have been lost during the firing. A chip to one lion's nose and a shallow flake to other lion's lower lip. A shallow in-the-firing iron ping to interior shoulder. H 15 3/4".