Images(3)

Storage Jar

Date1825-1831

Maker David Jarbour

Retailed by Hugh Smith

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Alexandria

MediumSalt-glazed stoneware

DimensionsOD at mouth: 7 1/4" OH: 13 3/4"

Credit LineGift of Betsy Davison in memory of all unidentified enslaved and free Black potters

Object number2023.900.1

DescriptionStorage Jar: Ovoid jar rises to everted and slightly rolled rim. Lug handles applied to high shoulder at opposite sides. Decorated in cobalt with an arch of bellflowers interrupted by a central "Alexandria flower" motif on one side and a single leafy sprig on the other side. The handle terminals picked out in cobalt, as well. The side with the floral motif is stamped "H. SMITH & Co." at the high shoulder. An incised script "D" is on the underside of the base. Slight slumping or warping at the pot's rim.
Label TextThis utilitarian jar bears the stamp “H.SMITH & CO,” a reference to Alexandria, Virginia’s Wilkes Street Pottery when it was owned by Hugh Smith.

As one of the largest potteries in the Northern Virginia-Washington area at this period, the firm employed many potters, including David Jarbour. An enslaved Black man, Jarbour purchased his own freedom in 1820 but continued to work at the pottery as a free man until the 1840s. Based on the overall form and finish of the vessel, the style of the cobalt decoration, and the incised script "D" for "David" on the underside, this jar is firmly ascribed to Jarbour's hand.

InscribedIncised "D" on the underside of the jar.
MarkingsStamped "H. SMITH & Co."
ProvenanceEx coll.: Betsy Davison

Exhibition(s)