Rare Strasburg, VA Redware Pitcher w/ Applied Bird and Floral Design, probably Hickerson

Fall 2020 Stoneware Auction

Lot #: 354

Price Realized: $1,320.00

($1,100 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.

Fall 2020 Auction Catalog

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Exceedingly Rare Glazed Redware Pitcher with Applied Bird and Floral Decoration, Strasburg, VA origin, probably J.M. Hickerson, circa 1895, ovoid pitcher with tall collar accented with heavily-tooled lines, decorated on the front with a hand-modeled and applied clay design of a bird perched on a flowering plant, in a manner related to the work of Anthony Bacher of Winchester and J. Eberly & Co. of Strasburg. Decoration includes impressed circles around the bird's neck, forming its eye, and accenting the flower, as well as heavily-incised veining to the leaves. Surface covered in a reddish-brown lead-and-manganese glaze. The clay appears to be vitrified to a greater extent than most redware. While applied decoration is found on wall pockets and vases from Strasburg, it is highly unusual on pitchers, and this example is the first of this style that we have offered. Literature: For a closely-related example, see Rice and Stoudt, The Shenandoah Pottery, p. 138, fig. 172. Provenance: A recently-discovered example, which descended in the Keister family, having been collected from the root cellar of "Great Grandma Keister" in Cumberland, MD. Losses to stem and flower. Minor other wear to applied decoration. Two pieces of handle broken and reglued. One base chip. H 8".