Antique Stoneware Salt-Glazed Jug by Miller’s Pottery of Alabama, Clover Stamp

Description

Antique late 19th – early 20th century 10 gallon stoneware jug with off white salt glazed exterior and brown glazed … more Antique late 19th – early 20th century 10 gallon stoneware jug with off white salt glazed exterior and brown glazed top, crafted by Miller’s Pottery of Alabama, stamped with their blue four leaf clover mark No. 5.

“Miller's Pottery, located in Brent, Bibb County, is one of the few remaining traditional potteries in the United States. The pots themselves are made from the Alabama clay of Perry County, and the Miller family's 150-year history of pottery making incorporates traditions brought from Europe and cultivated in the American South. In recent years, the Millers have added a national clientele of folk art collectors to their long-standing market of local residents and regional hardware stores.

Pottery making had a long tradition in the region. Indeed southeastern Native American tribes had been making pottery for centuries prior to the arrival of Europeans. They traditionally made their earthenware pots by coiling or molding clay, and they generally did not use glazes. The earliest European settlers in the region generally produced pots with a smooth, glossy lead-glazed finish. In the Mobile Bay area during the eighteenth century, however, new European immigrants brought more advanced pottery technology, including the use of the wheel and new glaze techniques, that quickly supplanted the earlier traditions. By the 1840s, potters on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay had begun producing high-fired stoneware with a matte-finish salt glaze, which gave the pots an appearance and texture similar to the skin of an orange. This type of glaze was probably introduced into the area by French immigrant potters, including Francis LaCoste, who first appeared near the present-day community of Montrose in the 1850 U.S. Census for Baldwin County. less