Exceedingly Rare and Important Stoneware Mug with Cobalt Flying Bird Motifs, Manhattan, NY or Cheesequake, NJ origin, circa 1725-1780, cylindrical mug with tooled and cobalt-highlighted banding to shoulder and base, decorated around the shoulder with three flocks of stylized flying birds. Additional cobalt highlights to handle terminals. A lack of salt glaze on this mug indicates limited glazing technology on the part of the maker, or that the mug was fired inside of another piece, where it would not be in contact with salt vapors during the firing. The chinoiserie flying bird pattern on this mug can be related to similar motifs on imported china of the 18th century, including the well-known Delft squirrel plate fragments excavated in Williamsburg, VA, now popularly sold as reproductions. This mug's cobalt-highlighted banding reveals a clear link to the Westerwald style as well as 18th century mug and tankard fragments excavated at the African Burial Ground in Manhattan, NY, adjacent to the Crolius and Remmey Potteries, as well as fragments excavated at the Morgan Pottery in Cheesequake, NJ. Shallow chipping around rim. H 5 1/8".