Exceptional Albany-Slip-Glazed Stoneware Pig Flask, Inscribed "from / Manning & Co. Importers of / Crockery & Glass ware. Corner of / fourth and st. Charles Streets / St. Louis mo," Wallace and Cornwall Kirkpatrick, Anna, IL, circa 1871-1876, molded flask in the form of a reclining pig with hole at rear, anatomically-correct underside, and incised details to face and hooves, the surface covered in a chocolate-brown Albany slip glaze. Incised on one side with the inscription, "St. Louis, the future Capital / from / Manning & Co. Importers of / Crockery & Glass ware. Corner of / fourth and St. Charles Streets / St. Louis m.o. / with a little good old Bourbon in." Remainder of pig incised with a railroad map of the Midwestern U.S., including the following landmarks: Miss River, Sandoval, grand Tower, Odin, Centralia, Duquoin, Carbondale, mounds, Chicago the great corn mart, Cincinnati the ancient Porkopolis, Ohio River, and Cairo. Original red-painted highlights to mouth and penis. The firm of Manning & Co. came into existence in or about 1871 as a new partnership involving local china and queensware merchant Melville Malcolm Manning. We cannot find this firm operating beyond 1876, giving a fairly small window for the date of this pig's manufacture, and making it a particularly early map-decorated example by the Kirkpatricks. The reference to "Crockery" adds to the rarity and appeal of this work. Excellent, essentially as-made condition with an in-the-firing contact mark to chin of pig. L 8 1/2".
