Outstanding Six-Gallon Stoneware Water Cooler with Cobalt Man Smoking Pipe and Flowering Urn Decorations, Dated 1878, Western PA origin, 1878, cylindrical, jug-form cooler with faceted bunghole, narrow spout, and two applied handles at the shoulder, Body of cooler dipped in a slip coating and brush-decorated with a large bust of a bearded man with buttoned shirt, smoking a pipe, beside a stylized urn bearing three flowers in the Western PA style, above the date, "1878." Elaborate spot decoration within and bordering the urn. Brushed "6" above. Cobalt highlights to bunghole and handle terminals. This wonderfully-decorated cooler is one of a small number of Western Pennsylvania stoneware pieces decorated with a detailed bust of a person. While this cooler's unusual, six-gallon jug-cooler form suggests it is a specially-made object, its extravagant and highly unusual decoration confirms this idea. The imposing, 9 3/4" tall rendering of a man, possibly the cooler's owner or a self-portrait of a potter, elevates this piece to a significant work of American ceramic folk art. Provenance: From a recently-surfaced Illinois collection. Approximately half of bunghole restored. Otherwise excellent condition. H 20".
