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Exceedingly Rare and Important Copper-Decorated Redware Figure of a Whippet, attributed to Solomon Bell, Strasburg, VA, circa 1875, molded figure of a reclining whippet dog with crossed paws on rectangular base, the surface decorated with splashed copper against an orange, iron-flecked ground under a heavy lead glaze. Incised mouth and details to front paws. This recently resurfaced work is distinguished as one of a few glazed examples of this iconic Bell form known. It is famously illustrated in Alvin H. Rice and John Baer Stoudt's 1929 book, The Shenandoah Pottery, in color on pl. IV and on page 132 in black-and-white, and listed in their pottery catalog as number 155 on page 133. Lost to the greater world of collectors and pottery enthusiasts some time after the book was published, this outstanding figural work was recently rediscovered in the American South. Whippets were produced by members of the Bell family in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania and Winchester and Strasburg, Virginia and are typically found with a surface that was brushed with oil paint by their makers after the firing. This example's striking treatment of splashed copper decoration under a clear lead glaze is possibly unique and relate it to other redware pieces produced by Solomon Bell while active in Strasburg, circa 1875. While a small number of prized whippets, painted black, were produced by Solomon Bell as a young man in Winchester, this whippet is possibly the only glazed example attributable to his hand and possibly the only example known from his near forty-year career in Strasburg. Few examples of this form from any of the Bells' tenure in Strasburg are known. We can find record of only one other Strasburg whippet coming to auction in the past several decades, a painted example made by Bell's brother, Samuel, inscribed "Samuel Bell / Strasburg / 1844," and sold at Crocker Farm, Inc., in 2008. To expound on the rarity of this object, as far as we are aware only one other glazed whippet by any member of the Bell family has ever come to auction. That example, decorated with sponged manganese under a clear lead glaze, was made by John Bell's son, John William Bell, and bore two impressions of his stamp, "JOHN W. BELL / Waynesboro, Pa." Selling as lot 1 in Crocker Farm, Inc.'s May 21, 2005 auction, the John W. Bell whippet sold for $41,800 including the buyer's premium, setting a then-record price for John Bell pottery. The copper-glazed whippet in this auction, combining beauty, extreme rarity, and highly desirable maker, is among the most significant examples of Shenandoah Valley redware to come to auction in years. Literature: Illustrated in Rice and Stoudt, The Shenandoah Pottery, pl. IV and pg. 132, listed on pg. 133, # 155. Provenance: Recently surfaced in North Carolina. Muzzle tightly reglued with some coloring along this break on proper right side of muzzle. Restoration to a thin, approximately 1 3/8" x 3/8" section extending from forehead partway down muzzle. Minor wear. L 9 1/2" ; W 3 1/2" ; H 6 1/2".
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