Extremely Rare Small Stoneware Jar att. John Swann (Alexandria, VA) w/ Inscribed "B"

Spring 2020 Stoneware Auction

Lot #: 37

Price Realized: $720.00

($600 hammer, plus 20% buyer's premium)

PLEASE NOTE: This result is 4 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.

Spring 2020 Auction Catalog

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Extremely Rare Half-Gallon Stoneware Jar with Cobalt Decoration, Inscribed "B" on Underside, Alexandria, VA origin, possibly Mordecai or William Bennett at the Wilkes Street Pottery, circa 1820, cylindrical jar with tooled shoulder and semi-rounded rim, decorated with cobalt daubs around the shoulder in a simple floral motif. Underside incised in large script with the letter, "B." The form, color, and decoration of this jar are consistent with pieces produced during John Swann's venture into cobalt-decorated stoneware production, circa 1820 at Alexandria, Virginia's Wilkes Street Pottery. Other Wilkes Street stoneware pieces from the 1820 to 1835 time period with incised letters have survived, including a number inscribed "D" for free black potter, David Jarbour. A marked "HUGH SMITH & CO" jar, bearing an impressed "T" and attributed to another free black potter, Thomas Valentine, was sold in Crocker Farm, Inc.'s July 20, 2019 auction (lot 129). The "B" on this jar possibly refers to one of two other free black Alexandria potters, Mordecai or William Bennett. (It is worth noting that Jarbour, Valentine and William Bennett all appear in a September 1831 petition of the Alexandria's free black men, decrying the Nat Turner rebellion.) Other pieces bearing an incised "BCM" or "M" for well-known Alexandria potter, Benedict C. Milburn, use a markedly different penmanship, indicating this jar was made by a different hand. Literature: A list of free black potters employed at the Wilkes Street Pottery is presented in the Journal of Early Southern Decoratives Arts, Winter 1995, Volume XXI, Number 2. Excellent, essentially as-made condition with a minor, glazed-over ping to shoulder and a minor, glazed-over base chip, both in-the-firing. H 7 3/4".