Exceedingly Rare and Important Virginia Stoneware Vase with Cobalt Foliate Decoration, attributed to the Wilkes Street Pottery, Alexandria, VA, circa 1835, ovoid-bodied vase with tooled neck and flared collar with semi-squared rim, the front decorated with four conjoined leaves in a cross-shaped pattern. The distinctive color and texture of the glazed surface, the vase's fine thin-walled construction, its rim molding, and single incised line at the shoulder, are all characteristic of pieces produced at Alexandria's Wilkes Street Pottery while under the ownership of merchant, Hugh Charles Smith, circa 1835. Jars with similar color and glazing are often found bearing the mark, "H.C. SMITH / ALEXA / D.C.". Nineteenth-century American stoneware vases with cobalt decoration are considered very rare from any region. This example is the first carrying an Alexandria provenance we are aware of. Provenance: A fresh-to-the-market example from a Southeastern Virginia collection amassed decades ago. Thin sealed curving crack from rim to midsection on front. Otherwise excellent condition. H 9".