STEPHEN B. SWEENEY, HENRICO CO., VIRGINIA DECORATED STONEWARE JAR, salt-glazed, approximately two-gallon capacity, ovoid form with two incised shoulder rings, arched handles, and thick, squared rim. Brushed cobalt "cotton boll" decoration to both sides, additional cobalt at handle terminals. Stephen B. Sweeney (1799-1862), Bailey's Creek, Henrico Co., VA. 1838-1863. 12" H, 6 1/2" D rim.
Underside with two glued pieces, emanating three cracks travelling 2" and 3" up the body, spall to one boll, minor chip to one handle.
Literature: See Hunter (ed.) - Ceramics in America 2013, "The Remarkable 19th-Century Stoneware of Virginia's Lower James River Valley", by Kurt Russ, Rob Hunter, Oliver Mueller-Heubach, and Marshall Goodman, p. 249, fig. 75 for a churn with identical decoration.
Parallels Rice - James River Stoneware and the S. S. Perry Connection, p. 218, fig. 355, lower right, and p. 219, fig. 356, upper right.
Provenance: From the estate collection of Mary Poole, Waynesboro, VA.

Underside with two glued pieces, emanating three cracks travelling 2" and 3" up the body, spall to one boll, minor chip to one handle.