Sold! $37,500.
Very Rare and Important One-Gallon Stoneware Pitcher with Incised Bird and Floral Decorations, attributed to Henry Remmey, Sr., Baltimore, MD, circa 1815, ovoid pitcher with inwardly-tapering collar and tooled rim, decorated with an elaborate incised and cobalt-highlighted design of a crested bird with turned head and upswept tail, perched on a branch with fern-like flowers. Decoration includes delicate detail in the form of incised feathers to the bird and veining to the leaves, a Remmey trait. Each side of pitcher decorated with an incised daisy plant with fine details throughout and negative space on the interiors of the blossoms, the one blossom featuring a "bull's eye" style center. Cobalt band to rim and cobalt highlights to handle terminals. This pitcher, perhaps more than any other product of Remmey's tenure in Baltimore, displays an unbroken link to his Manhattan training. Visible in the pitcher's form, with its inwardly-tapering collar, and in its incised floral motifs, which connect it to an earlier pitcher likely made by Remmey while still in Manhattan (see Crocker Farm, Inc., March 5, 2011, lot 3), this work serves as the perfect representation of the migration of style in American Decorative Arts. It was Remmey's New York pedigree that compelled Baltimore merchants to hire him to superintend their Baltimore Stone-Ware Manufactory, his extreme skill and training in the capital of American stoneware production often referred to in local ads. This pitcher's appealing use of negative space on the interior of the bird's wing and eye as well as the flowers are treatments also brought from Manhattan. The pitcher lacks the freehand floral brushwork seen on Remmey's later Baltimore products and likely adopted from the Mid-Atlantic tradition. His arrival in Baltimore was met with an advancement in his production, seen in a freer and more artistic touch to his incising and a preference for decorating his pieces with birds, often crested, long-tailed, and meticulously feathered, as noted on this example. In addition, the locally-famous Baltimore clay allowed for the perfect backdrop for this artist's drawings, displayed by the exemplary coloring of the fired clay and cobalt on this example. The refinement of the incised decoration and brilliant color of the clay and cobalt easily convey why this potter's tenure in Baltimore is regarded by many as the zenith of American stoneware production. A small number of incised bird pieces have survived above ground and a few others have been excavated in damaged or fragmented condition in the neighborhoods surrounding Remmey's shop. The survival of this pitcher in immaculate condition, at over 200 years of age, is remarkable. This masterwork, connecting Northern and Southern potting traditions, pushes the boundaries of its utilitarian purpose. Excellent condition with a thin, shallow 3/4" flake to proper right side of pitcher's rim and a 1 1/4" in-the-firing fissure to underside, not visible on interior. H 10 7/8".
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