Extremely Rare Four-Gallon Stoneware Water Cooler with Cobalt Starburst Decoration, Stamped "THOMAS & BRO. / HUNTINGDON, PA," circa 1870, cylindrical form with circular bunghole, applied lug handles, and tooling to shoulder and rim, the front decorated with a brushed bull's eye emanating with vertical and horizontal foliate motifs and diagonal wavy strokes. Cobalt highlight to bunghole, handle terminals, maker's mark, and capacity mark. The first Huntingdon, Pennsylvania cooler that we have ever offered, this work features unusually elaborate decoration inspired by the well-known starface designs of Thompson Harrington's Lyons, NY pottery- a site where the Thomas brothers' father, Shem Thomas, had previously worked. Exceptional in form and decoration, this cooler is among the finest examples known by this influential Pennsylvania potting family, active for periods in both Harrisburg and Huntingdon. Literature: Illustrated and discussed in Lasansky, Made of Mud: Stoneware Potteries in Central Pennsylvania 1834-1929, p.21. Lasansky describes this cooler with the following: "This four gallon THOMAS & BRO. water cooler (13 3/4" x 8 3/4") is one of Thomas' most effective pieces with uncharacteristically light color and imaginative design." Provenance: Ex-collection Nancy Shedd, Petersburg, PA. Very nice condition with a 1 3/4" rim chip and a few minor chips to bunghole. H 13 3/4".
