| Object ID |
A885 |
| Object Name |
Jug |
| Early Date |
1864 |
| Late Date |
1864 |
| Made By |
Norton Pottery |
| Description |
Although a variety of containers for the storage of water, wine, and other liquids were in common production by the Norton Pottery in the 19th century, the great size of these jugs and their elaborate decoration makes them particulary distinctive.
This vessel with a prancing stallion, not a common Bennington motif, is one of two jugs that were presented to Calvin Park (1820-1864) of Woodford, Vermont, on the occasion of his election to the Vermont State Legislature. Park was associated first in business and then marriage to Bennington's leading pottery families. Between 1848 and 1849 he was a partner with Christopher Webber Fenton in the firm "Lyman, Fenton, and Park" which sold dry goods and manufactured "Every Description of Rockingham, White Flint and White Earthen CROCKERY WARE." Ten years later in 1859, Park worked with Fenton again as manager of A. A. Gilbert & Company, a short-lived reorganization of the United States Pottery Company. In 1864, the year Park received this jug, he was married to Christopher Webber Fenton's daughter, Fanny, the granddaughter of Judge Luman Norton, who helped manage, or managed, the Norton pottery from 1812 until 1841. This piece of Bennington stoneware is of particular importance because it is one of very few signed examples. "George J.," whose name appears just below the horse, is thought to have decorated the jug. |
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