Extremely Rare and Fine Small-Sized Stoneware Presentation Jar with Elaborate Cobalt Vine Decoration, Inscribed "EM 1791," Abraham Mead, Greenwich, CT, 1791, thinly-potted, ovoid jar with heavily-tooled shoulder and flared rim, brush-decorated around the shoulder with an elaborate scrolled vine flanking the initials and date, "EM 1791." Among a small number of dated eighteenth century American stoneware pieces known, this work features an appealing size, remarkably thin potting for its medium, and fine brushwork related to the well-known "watch spring" motifs of the period. Mead's decorative vocabulary was likely based in the work of the Greenwich master potter he trained under, Adam States, Sr. A few known Manhattan products made by States prior to the establishment of his Greenwich pottery reveal more simplified scrolled designs in a similar black-blue slip. A related Mead jar, inscribed "HL / 1791," resides in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum in Brooklyn, NY. Provenance: Descended in the Mead family; The Personal Collection of Lewis Scranton, Skinner Auctions, May 21, 2016, lot 106; Warren F. Hartmann Collection. Excellent, essentially as-made condition, noteworthy for the age of the object. H 6".
