Exceptional Glazed Redware Dish with Two-Color Slip Decoration, attributed to Jacob Weaver II, Lincoln County, NC, circa 1820-1840, flaring bowl with semi-squared rim, profusely-decorated with alternating straight and wavy trails of copper and cream-colored slip under a clear lead glaze. Rim with sgraffito decoration forming a wavy red band incised into cream-colored slip. Jacob Weaver II (1774-1846) is the earliest potter of the Catawba Valley region with a surviving body of work. Study of sherds from his recently-discovered kiln by noted authority, Linda Carnes McNaughton, confirms Weaver as this dish's maker. The combination of conventional slip-trailed line decoration combined with sgraffito is otherwise unknown in Southern production. Most of the small number of extant Weaver dishes survive in poor condition. This example is among the largest and finest-conditioned of the group, retaining most of its delicate green-and-cream slipwork. Among the rarest examples of North Carolina redware that we have ever offered. Literature: For discussion on Weaver, see Zug, Turners and Burners, pp. 83-84, and Harpe, Valley Ablaze. Rim chips. Wear to interior. A 3 1/8" crack from rim. Diam. 11 1/2" ; H 2 1/8".
