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Exceptional Three-Gallon Stoneware Jug with Elaborate Bird and Floral Decoration, Stamped "J. & E. NORTON. / BENNINGTON VT.," circa 1855, cylindrical jug with semi-squared spout, exuberantly-decorated with a slip-trailed design of a bird with scrolled swags filling its body, dashes highlighting its wing and tail, and spots along the base of the tail, perched on a large scrolled vine with spotted blossom. Cobalt highlights to maker's mark and capacity mark. This jug is famous for its depiction on the cover of the iconic book, The Birds of Bennington, by Steven Leder and Fred Cesana, which documented the various bird motifs of the Norton family of Bennington, Vermont. A copy of the book will be included with this lot. The scrollwork and dashed treatment throughout the bird can be observed on a small number of outstanding J. & E. Norton products with avian designs, including an important six-gallon crock with Federal eagle motif, inscribed "USA." The decorator of these extravagant works previously worked at both the William E. Warner pottery of West Troy, New York and Martin Crafts pottery of Boston, Massachusetts, as a few related designs can be found on pieces from these operations. The motif's rarity, size, and over-the-top application of cobalt place it among the finest bird designs that we have offered from this highly-regarded New England pottery. The jug's superb firing and even salt glazing resulted in a crisp, bold rendering of the design with raised, enamel-like cobalt and excellent contrast with the clay body. Literature: Illustrated in Leder and Cesana, The Birds of Bennington, cover, and pg. 133, fig. 45 A. A long, sealed Y-shaped crack on reverse. Otherwise excellent condition. H 15".
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