Outstanding Five-Gallon Stoneware Jug with Oversized Flowering Urn Decoration, Stamped "WEST TROY / N.Y. / POTTERY," circa 1875, large-sized, cylindrical jug with tooled spout, decorated with an exuberant slip-trailed design of a planted urn bearing numerous leaves, flowers, and dotted trails. Urn is depicted with cross-hatched pedestal base featuring angled moldings at each end, the body with heavily slip-trailed stripes, the top with circular embellishments. The numerous leaves emanating from the urn are slip-trailed in the classic West Troy style: hollow, with vigorous graduated highlights to their interiors. Two flowers, one with spotted interior and another with heavily-scalloped petals adorn the interior of the mass of leaves. Bordering the leaves are a number of dotted trails and a few small circular flowers. Extensive ground cover below is composed of curved trails filled with profuse striping applied haphazardly in various directions. The detail of the design is noteworthy as is its grand proportions, measuring 14" wide around the curve of the jug- the entire width of the jug's front, and an astounding 14 1/2" tall. Flowering urns and baskets are iconic Northeastern U.S. stoneware designs, featured in the decorative vocabulary of numerous mid to late 19th century potteries. This design, set apart by its obsessive detail and size, is among the greatest renderings of the motif that we have seen. Excellent condition with a few small spout chips, a salt drip to right side of jug's front, two in-the-firing iron pings, and some minor bubbling to cobalt. H 19 1/4".
