Rare Tanware Presentation Pitcher with Profuse Albany Slip Decoration, Inscribed "Mary E. Crowe," New Geneva or Greensboro, PA, circa 1885, ovoid pitcher with tall, flaring collar, decorated in Albany slip with the script name, "Mary E Crowe," flanked by straight and wavy freehand stripes, all above an undulating vine bearing three large tulip blossoms. Collar decorated with diagonal wavy stripes flanking a series of stripes at the spout. Wide stripe decoration to rim. Mary E. Crowe is almost certainly the Mary Elizabeth Crowe who was the wife of Western PA Presbyterian minister, Nelson M. Crowe. Married about 1885, the pair ventured soon after to North Dakota where they superintended the Presbyterian Jamestown College (now the University of Jamestown) before returning to Pennsylvania in 1888. The couple eventually settled in Pittsburgh, where they are listed in the 1910 census. Among the most strikingly decorated examples of Western Pennsylvania tanware that we have ever offered, featuring a desirable presentation name. Very nice condition with nicks along rim and some wear to spout. H 7 3/4".
