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Very Rare Anna Pottery Miniature Log Cabin, Wallace and Cornwall Kirkpatrick, Anna, IL, Dated "1840" and "1888," composed of redware or iron-rich stoneware, with heavy detail to logs, roof, and chimney, including a partially-opened door and window on one side and a raccoon skin hanging on one end, the underside dated "1840" and "1888." A hard cider keg at the base of the cabin has since been lost. This political piece was made to commemorate the presidential campaigns of Whig President, William Henry Harrison, in 1840 and his grandson, Republican President, Benjamin Harrison. The images of the log cabin and hard cider were first adopted by William Henry Harrison for his campaign in 1840. Harrison, at age 67, was considered too old by Democrats, with one newspaper declaring, "Give him a barrel of hard cider, and. . . a pension of two thousand [dollars] a year. . . and. . . he will sit the remainder of his days in a log cabin." Harrison's Whig Party turned this idea against his opponents, presenting its candidate as "the log cabin and hard cider candidate," a man of the people, who contrasted starkly with the elitist Democratic candidate, Martin van Buren. These symbols were used two generations later by Benjamin Harrison for his campaign against Grover Cleveland in 1888 and served as an inspiration for the small cabins the Kirkpatricks produced. (For a period photograph of a very similar log cabin used in Benjamin Harrison's campaign, please visit https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Image/IM56915.) The younger Harrison even used an actual log cabin pulled by two horses to promote his candidacy. Few Anna examples of this form have survived. Provenance: Ex-George H. Meyer and Kay White Meyer Collection, acquired from David Good in 1993. Missing keg at base. Other minor wear. L 3" ; W 2" ; H 2 1/2".
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