Rare and Exceptional S. D. KELLOGG/ WHATELY Stoneware Jug with Elaborate Bird Scene

March 23, 2019 Stoneware Auction

Lot #: 241

Price Realized: $2,950.00

($2,500 hammer, plus 18% buyer's premium)

PLEASE NOTE: This result is 5 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.

March 23, 2019 Auction Catalog

◀︎ Back to Catalog

▶ Login

Exceptional Three-Gallon Stoneware Jug with Cobalt Bird Scene, Stamped "S D KELLOGG / WHATELY," MA origin, circa 1851-1853, cylindrical jug with semi-rounded spout, decorated with a large slip-trailed design of a bird with turned head, perched on a tall tree stump, flanked by trees and split-rail fences. Cobalt highlight to maker's mark and capacity. Henry C. Baldwin in A Guide to Whately Pottery and Potters attributes variants of this bird motif to Silas D Kellogg's wife, Maria Crafts Kellogg. According to Baldwin "nearly all of the decorations tell a story, also the foliage with a bird or without can be identified. The mourning dove and cherry trees with fruit was a common site at the Crafts farm. Maria, daughter of Caleb Crafts, . . . had been subjected to pottery her entire life. We have no doubt that she and her older sister Harriett had their fingers in the clay while in New York, then Maine, then New Hampshire and then Whately. The pottery has a woman"s touch in detail, decoration and finish ... . Her husband Silas was not a potter. We prefer to give her the credit, without any real proof except that she now was in charge of her own works next to Thomas Crafts and doing exactly as she wished in her own pottery works which she later sold to Thomas Crafts" (Baldwin, p. 17). Signed "S D KELLOGG / WHATELY" stoneware is scarce, and examples bearing this mark featuring a simple bird design are considered rare and desirable. This jug's decoration, incorporating a bird into an entire pastoral scene, is believed to be unique in this pottery's oeuvre. Of interesting note is the fact that this design predates popular pheasant-on-stump motifs found on Norton stoneware of Bennington, VT, which often incorporated fences into the scene. This example is regarded as one of the finest Whately stoneware pieces known, to our knowledge eclipsed only by the iconic bird-decorated flowerpot (sold as lot 223 in Crocker Farm, Inc.'s Nov. 2, 2013 auction). Excellent condition with a chip on top of spout by handle, a kiln mark on handle, and some bubbling to cobalt. Height 14 1/2".