Exceptional One-Gallon J. & E. Norton (Bennington, VT) Pheasant Jug

Summer 2024 Stoneware Auction

Lot #: 270

Price Realized: $24,000.00

($20,000 hammer, plus 20% buyer's premium)

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Auction Highlight: Summer 2024 Auction | New England Stoneware | Norton Pottery | Vermont Stoneware

Summer 2024 Auction Catalog

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Exceptional One-Gallon Stoneware Jug with Bold Cobalt Pheasant on Stump Decoration, Stamped "J. & E. NORTON / BENNINGTON, VT," circa 1855, cylindrical jug with semi-squared spout, decorated with a large slip-trailed design of a crested pheasant with turned head, perched on a forked tree stump with ground cover below. The decoration is executed with a wider than usual quill on the slip cup, creating a particularly bold image with raised, enamel-like cobalt. Few one-gallon Norton pheasant-decorated jugs of any quality are known. The size, color, and thickly-applied cobalt on this example place it within a very small group of related one-gallon jugs of this specific style, two of which were sold at Crocker Farm, Inc.: the first in March 5, 2011, lot 28 and the second in Spring 2022, lot 78. Small spout chips. Some surface wear to base, body, and base of jug's handle. Areas of surface-level wear to cobalt. An in-the-firing fissure below lower handle terminal. H 11 1/4".