Rare and Fine Copper-and-Albany-Slip-Decorated Stoneware Snake Jug, Anna or Texarkana Pottery, Anna, IL or Texarkana, AR origin, circa 1885, wide-based, ovoid jug with narrow mouth and heavily-incised "bark" surface, the handle modeled in the form of a forked branch bearing three large, sprigged leaves molded from life. A large hand-modeled snake with heavily-incised scales slithers through the fork in the handle and around the neck of the jug. The snake and leaves are decorated with Albany slip and highly unusual copper slip, applied under a clear salt glaze. Exceptional form, only the second of this particular style and glaze treatment that we have seen. The use of copper slip decoration, rarely seen in American stoneware, is noteworthy. Featuring an appealing combination of wheel-thrown, hand-modeled, and molded elements, this jug was made at Wallace and Cornwall Kirkpatrick's Anna Pottery or at the Texarkana Pottery of Jacob Bachley, a gifted potter who produced a variety of items in the Anna style. Provenance: Recently surfaced in North Carolina. Excellent, essentially as-made condition, difficult to find on this form, with only a small in-the-making chip to the end of one leaf. H 6 1/2".
