Extremely Rare Stoneware Pitcher with Incised Floral Decoration, Stamped "C. CROLIUS / MANUFACTURER / MANHATTAN-WELLS / NEW-YORK," circa 1810, approximately one-and-a-half-gallon ovoid pitcher with footed base and inwardly-tapered spout, the front decorated with an incised and cobalt-highlighted design of an open-centered flower bud flanked by leaves. Additional cobalt highlights to handle terminals. Impressed below the spout with oval Clarkson Crolius, Sr. maker's mark. Excellent form and decoration. Signed Crolius pitchers are considered rare and relatively few incised examples of this form are known. Provenance: Crocker Farm, Inc., November 2, 2013, lot 10. Literature: Illustrated in A. Brandt Zipp, Commeraw's Stoneware: The Life and Work of the First African-American Pottery Owner, p. 126. Missing handle. 1 3/8" chip to left side of spout with 1" line descending from it. Minor glazed-over chip to rim on reverse. Group of shallow glazed-over base. One post-firing base chip. Minor 1 1/2" in-the-firing surface line to left side of shoulder, not visible on interior. H 11".
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