Exceptional Five-Gallon Stoneware Jar with Incised Floral Decoration, Manhattan, NY origin, circa 1790, ovoid jar with tooled shoulder, semi-squared rim, and applied loop handles, decorated on the front and reverse with a large, incised and cobalt-highlighted design of a flowering plant with five-petaled blossom, the central petal of each blossom forming a stylized heart. Deeply-incised details fill the interior of the leaves and flower petals. Brushed cobalt highlights to handle terminals. Wonderful, free-form decoration, which diverges from the typical motifs known from this highly-important, stoneware-producing city. The jar's extravagant design and superb color rank it among the more striking examples of Manhattan stoneware that we have offered in recent years. Provenance: From a long-term Pennsylvania private collection. A long curving crack from rim, extending to midsection of reverse side of jar and including a surface flake. Otherwise excellent, essentially as-made condition with two minor, glazed-over base chips. H 16".