Exceedingly Rare and Important J. A. LOWE, Greene County, Tennessee Redware Jar
Winter 2025 Auction of the Carole Wahler Collection
Lot #: 28
Estimate: $25,000-$40,000.A Note About Estimates
Minimum Bid: $10,000.
Exceedingly Rare and Important Glazed Redware Jar with Dipped Manganese Decoration, Stamped "J. A. LOWE," John Alexander Lowe, Greene County, TN, circa 1852-1862, ovoid jar with footed base, tall collar with flattened rim, and ribbed horizontal-strap handles with columnar coggling accenting the terminals. Shoulder impressed with repeating coggled maker’s mark of Greene County, TN potter, John Alexander Lowe (1833-1902). Majority of surface dipped in manganese slip and covered in a clear lead glaze, creating an arched brown decoration against a mottled olive ground with orange spotting. This iconic jar set a record for a piece of 19th century pottery made in the state of Tennessee when it sold at Case Antiques in Knoxville, TN for $63,000 including buyer's premium in 2008. At the time, it was the only marked example of the potter's work known. Wahler's extensive research on Tennessee potters has yielded a significant amount of information on Lowe's life and career. He operated a pottery in Greene County near the Harmon Cemetery, where hundreds of sherds bearing his maker's mark have been excavated. He is perhaps most well-known as an associate of the artistic potter and Union sympathist, Christopher Alexander Haun (1821-1861). Haun was hanged by the Confederate army on December 11, 1861 for participating in the burning of the Lick Creek railroad bridge, one of nine strategic bridges that President Lincoln had encouraged the destruction of. One of two surviving letters written by Haun to his wife, Elizabeth, while imprisoned before his execution names "Low," presumably John Alexander Lowe, as one of three potters to "finish off that ware" to sell after his death. Lowe's work strongly resembles that of Haun's, suggesting he apprenticed under him. Both potters used related jar forms, coggled maker's marks, and handle constructions with impressed treatments. Lowe enlisted in the Confederate Army only two days after Haun's hanging. Like so many other potters of the period, he progressively moved west; in 1865, he was living in Indiana and by 1880 he had moved to Arkansas, where he would live the remainder of his life. January's auction of the Carole Wahler Collection offers a rare opportunity to acquire one of the most famous redware pieces made in the state of Tennessee, valued for its scarcity, artistic quality, and unusually strong condition. Exhibited: Tennessee Turned, Earthenware and Stoneware Made in East Tennessee 1800-1900, Museum of East Tennessee History, May 16-October 30, 2011. Provenance: Purchased by Wahler at Case Antiques, Inc. Auctions & Appraisals, Knoxville, TN, September 7, 2008, lot 64. Overall very good condition with a few old chips to rim. H 13 5/8".
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