STAMPED CANADIAN ROCKINGHAM GLAZE POTTERY FIGURAL BOOT FLASK PAIR, mottled brown glaze, splotched and splattered with lead- and manganese-based glaze over very light-colored buff earthenware, hollow-molded bottles in the forms of a matching left-and-right pair of ladies' boots with detailed seams/lacing up the inside ankle, both stamped at front ".MRS. / .LYONS. / .1868." Canadian, likely Ontario manufacture. Circa 1868. 6 3/4" HOA, 7 1/4" L heel to toe.
Literature: Parallels Johnson - The Potter's Reach in 19th-Century Ontario, p. 206 fig. 17-12.
Catalogue Note: The present flasks very closely parallel a pair illustrated in Moe Johnson's recently published Ontario pottery reference volume, which are stamped "MRS. TWO / 1869". They were cast in identical molds, although a specific attribution is not given for them. Moe suggests they were used as liquor flasks, which is quite possible, although another interesting possibility has been suggested. They may have instead been boot warmers, functionally just hot water bottles, shaped and sized nearly true-to-life where they would have fit neatly inside of a pair of winter boots in need of being warmed or kept warm before venturing out on cold days or nights.

Very good condition overall, both with some light wear and scratching, right boot nearly undamaged with just a few glaze flakes and one small chip, mostly around the neck and lip of the bottle; left boot with a similar flake at neck, and two wide surface-level areas of glaze loss at heel, and the beginnings of some glaze flaking at the outer edge of sole.