[All at 1 1/2  cols.]

H2004.46.1

Six-gallon crock, circa 1870, by Wm. A. MacQuoid & Co. (1863–1879), Little West 12th Street, New York City, and decorated with an eagle and shield.

H2003.66.9

One-and-one-half gallon crock, circa 1870, by Wm. A. MacQuoid & Co. Pottery Works  (1863–1879), Little 12th Street, New York City, decorated with a camel.

673-

Paul Cushman (1767–1833) made this jar in 1809. It is stamped over 36 times with the quote, “Paul Cushman’s: Stone Ware Factory 1809/Half A Mile West of Albany Goal [jail].” It is also incised “C Russell/Pott/Sunday,” and it is thought to be possibly the first piece of pottery fired at the Cushman kiln.

FOR 10/26

N.Y. STATE MUSEUM SIGNIFICANT STONEWARE GIFTS w/4 cuts

ak/gs set 10/10 #715346

ALBANY, N.Y. — A historically significant 1809 stoneware jar by Paul Cushman of Albany, from the personal collection of Leigh Keno, host of PBS Antique Roadshow, is among several decorated stoneware pieces donated to the New York State Museum recently by Adam J. Weitsman of Owego, N.Y.

A presentation piece that was likely created for a specific customer, the jar may be the first piece that was made in Cushman’s kiln. It was recently featured in an exhibition on Cushman at the Albany Institute of History and Art. The jar is stamped 36 times across its surface with “Paul Cushman’s Stoneware Factory 1809/half a mile west of Albany Goal” (jail). Another inscription reads “C. Russell/Port/Sunday/1809.” Russell was an Albany mason and may have assisted in building the kiln.

The jar and other donations received will be added to the museum’s existing Weitsman collection, which includes more than 100 pieces of decorated stoneware Weitsman donated in 1996. Weitsman began collecting stoneware during his teenage years and his collection includes many unusual forms of decoration. During the past ten years he has continued to acquire important pieces of decorated stoneware, many of which feature spectacular forms of decoration by Nineteenth Century folk artists.

“Weitsman has an eye for the unusual and a flare for identifying some of the most artistic examples of decorated stoneware,” said John Scherer, the curator of decorative arts. “We are both delighted and fortunate that Mr Weitsman has decided to build and showcase one of the most important collections of American decorated stoneware at the State Museum.”

The donations include a rare cylindrical water cooler, displaying a portrait of a Civil War general and his wife, which was purchased at an auction for $88,000, and set a record for American stoneware sold at a specialty sale. It was made by potters Fenton & Hancock of St Johnsbury, Vt. The image of the general is almost an exact copy of a photograph of Asa Peabody Blunt (1826–1889), who served as a general in the quartermaster’s department stationed in Virginia during the Civil War. Blunt was a resident of St Johnsbury, and the cooler was undoubtedly made as a tribute from the community and presented to him when he returned from the war.

Another stoneware jug acquired by Weitsman for the museum was made by potter William Lundy of Troy, N.Y., circa 1826, and depicts an amusing incised and cobalt blue caricature of a merman (male version of mermaid).

The museum also received crocks acquired by Weitsman that feature some of the most unusual decorations to be found on stoneware. These are from potter William MacQuoid of Little West 12th Street, Manhattan. One piece displays a zebra and the other a camel. Another crock by this maker displays an American eagle and shield. A crock by MacQuoid’s predecessor, L. Lehman & Co., circa 1860, is decorated with a Dutch- or German-style church with a gambrel roof and round tower, complete with a weather cock. Little West 12th Street was a German neighborhood and the church may have stood nearby the potter’s factory.

Another New York City potter is represented by a two-gallon water pitcher decorated with dashes of blue cobalt made by Clarkson Crolius Jr (working 1835–1849). This joins several other pieces by Crolius and his father that were already in the museum’s Weitsman collection.

Other recent additions include a two-gallon crock made by C.W. Braun of Buffalo, N.Y., circa 1880, which is decorated with a portrait of a gentleman with a cowboy hat and mustache, who looks remarkably like Buffalo Bill. A humorous long-necked gooney bird graces a six-gallon water cooler made by M. Woodruff of Cortland, circa 1865. This piece was acquired from the collection of Donald Shelley, former director of the Henry Ford Museum.

A highly decorated five-gallon water cooler, created by J.&E. Norton of Bennington, Vt., comes out of the McKearin collection. It features examples of three types of decoration commonly associated with potteries at Bennington, Troy and Fort Edward — a reclining deer, a house and a basket of flowers.

One of the most handsome pieces, added to the collection in May, is a six-gallon crock by N. Clark & Co., Rochester, circa 1850, decorated with a very detailed phoenix or vulture.

A catalog and exhibition featuring the museum’s Weitsman stoneware collection is being planned for next year.

The New York State Museum is on Madison Avenue. For information, 518-474-5877 or www.nysm.nysed.gov.