Extremely Rare Albany-Slip-Glazed Stoneware Jug by Female Potter, Inscribed "Desoto McClintock / July 8th 1879 / Pittsfield" and "The first I ever [?] turned / Jennie Price translator / Mt. Sterling, Ill's," Pittsfield, IL origin, 1879, squat-shaped jug with Albany-slip-glazed surface, featuring the incised inscription, "Desoto McClintock / July 8th 1879". Shoulder incised "The first I ever [?] turned." Further incised near base, "Jennie Price translator / Mt Sterling Ills." Various incised symbols--a secret code--appear around the surface of the jug. Desoto McClintock and Jennie Price were young women who were presumably friends or relatives, living about 35 miles apart in western Illinois. According to the 1880 federal census, McClintock was living in New Hartford (Pike County), the 17-year-old daughter of a farmer; Price was living in Mount Sterling (Brown County), a 20-year-old domestic servant. Clearly fashioned as a token of her friendship for Price, this jug was apparently thrown on a wheel by McClintock in a stoneware shop in nearby Pittsfield; two Pittsfield potters are listed in the 1880 census, 36-year-old H. A. Huggins--who was probably the proprietor of a lone pottery there--and Thomas Underwood, a 19-year-old who was probably employed by Huggins. It is not difficult to imagine that perhaps Underwood and McClintock were themselves friendly, and he allowed the teenage girl to throw and decorate this jug as a gift for her friend. However, it is also possible that McClintock was employed in the shop somehow herself. The various incised symbols on the jug are presumably written in a secret code language created by Price and McClintock, with the idea being that Price would be able to "translate" the private message written for her. This jug represents the only example of American stoneware that we have handled with definitive attribution to a female potter; indeed, it is the only known piece of nineteenth century utilitarian American pottery made from one female to another. Excellent, essentially as-made condition. H 6 3/4".
