Rare Three-Gallon Stoneware Jug with Cobalt Pastoral Scene, Stamped "J. & E. NORTON, / BENNINGTON, VT," circa 1855, cylindrical jug with squared spout, decorated with an elaborate slip-trailed design of a central tree with wavy branches flanked on one side by a church or house with two chimneys and two windows and a cross and on the opposing side with two fences and a bush. Cobalt highlights to maker's mark and capacity mark. Outstanding decoration, featuring superb color and contrast. The jug's rare cross motif can be found on a smaller number of other Norton products, including a lion-and-deer-decorated cooler, sold in Crocker Farm, Inc.'s July 19, 2014 auction, lot 1B. A parrot-decorated cooler illustrated in the New York State Museum book, Art for the People: Decorated Stoneware from the Weitsman Collection, pp. 244-245, features multiple crosses and includes similar execution of its tree and house motifs. Provenance: A fresh-to-the-market example, which descended in a Northeastern U.S. family. Excellent, essentially as-made condition with an in-the-firing surface fissure to underside, not visible on interior, and some minor staining.
