Outstanding Six-Gallon Stoneware Crock with Elaborate Cobalt Deer Scene, Stamped "J. & E. NORTON. / BENNINGTON VT," circa 1855, cylindrical crock with semi-rounded rim and applied lug handles, decorated with a very large slip-trailed design of a stag with robust, heavily-spotted body and turned head, standing in the foreground of a pastoral scene with two pine trees and a split-rail fence on hills in the distance. Cobalt highlights to maker's mark and capacity mark. The only six-gallon Norton deer-decorated crock that we have ever offered, this work features an extraordinarily large rendering of the animal, the deer itself measuring 12 1/4" by 6 1/4" wide. A 3 1/2" in-the-firing fissure from rim on interior, visible as a 2 1/4" line from rim on front. A faint 7 3/4" line descending from shoulder towards base on front. A large 2 1/4" chip to front on reverse. Minor chipping to interior of rim. A minor nick to one handle and a small in-the-firing iron ping to opposite handle. Some fry/ mottling to cobalt. A long horizontal surface crack at base on reverse, not visible on interior, connecting a tight spider line on underside, which is partially visible on the interior base. Minor base chipping. Light staining to surface. Wear to Albany slip on interior. H 13 3/4".
