Exceedingly Rare and Important Glazed Redware Jug, Stamped "Samuel Butter / CLARKSBURG / Va.," circa 1820-1850, small-sized, ovoid jug with footed base and angled spout molding, the surface coated in a yellowish slip and covered in a clear lead glaze. The resultant coloration produced during the firing is beautiful and highly-distinctive, a mottled yellow-and-red with bleeding flecks of red throughout. The underside is impressed with the elusive maker's mark,"Samuel Butter / CLARKSBURG / Va." within a wavy border, accented with three small impressed stars. Samuel Butter, like Thompson Pottery patriarch, John W. Thompson, apprenticed to potter, Jacob Foulke, Jr., in Morgantown, West Virginia. Thompson and his children would go on to produce both redware and stoneware in that city for most of the 19th century. According to Horvath and Duez's Ceramics in America 2004 article, "The Potters and Potteries of Morgan's Town, Virginia: The Earthenware Years, Circa 1796-1854," Butter's work, as evidenced by this specific jug and a few other pieces, had glazes that rivaled Thompson's. As only a few intact pieces of pottery and some excavated sherds have survived bearing Butter's maker's mark, his signed work ranks among the rarest 19th century pottery manufactured in the American South. Illustrated: Horvath and Duez, "The Potters and Potteries of Morgan's Town, Virginia: The Earthenware Years, Circa 1796-1854," Ceramics in America 2004, fig. 28. Missing handle. A chip to interior of spout. Some expected wear to top of spout. Light surface wear. H 6 1/2".
