Lot #: 245
Price Realized: $1,800.00
($1,500 hammer, plus 20% buyer's premium)
PLEASE NOTE: This result is 3 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.
Exceedingly Rare One-Gallon Stoneware Jar with Elaborate Cobalt Floral Decoration, Inscribed "Smith / Airville," Baltimore, MD origin, circa 1827-1830, cylindrical jar with squared rim, incised with the large, incised and cobalt-highlighted inscription, "Smith / Airville," with dramatic flourish below. Jar is decorated completely around its circumference with an undulating vine bearing flowers and graduated leaves, a motif based on the style of contemporaneous potter, David Parr, Sr., of Baltimore, MD. One of a small group of surviving jars made for merchant and delegate to the Virginia Legislature, Thomas Smith, for use on his Airville Plantation in Gloucester County, Virginia. (Smith acquired Airville in 1827 and died in 1841.) Provenance: Ex-Sumpter Priddy, Alexandria, VA. A fairly-tight network of cracks extending from rim to base on right side of jar. A very faint, approximately 3 1/2" hairline from rim. Some shallow, in-the-firing chipping to rim. A minor chip to underside of rim. A 2" section of in-the-firing chipping to side of jar near base. A short surface line to base, not visible on interior. H 10 1/4".
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