ZIGLER POTTERY, TIMBERVILLE, ROCKINGHAM CO., SHENANDOAH VALLEY OF VIRGINIA DECORATED / DATED STONEWARE PITCHER, salt-glazed, approximately one-gallon capacity, semi-ovoid form with medium tall neck having a single, incised medial ring and beaded rim, strap handle with medial groove. Exuberant, brushed and slip-trailed 16-petal/point flower/star below spout with foliated vine extending horizontally from each side, with "1832" above, the neck having a pair of parallel foliated vines to each side, a quatrefoil to the end of spout, handle having additional cobalt to terminals and seven vertical petals. The pottery of John Zigler (active circa 1830 to after 1850), Timberville, VA, probably by head potter Andrew Coffman (1795-1853). Dated 1832. 10 3/8" H, 4 1/4" D rim.
Published: Evans/Suter - "A Great Deal of Stone & Earthen Ware", The Rockingham County, Virginia School of Folk Pottery, p. 5, pl. 3 and p. 43, fig. 35A.
Literature: See Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates, 6/22/2013, lot 8 for a 5 7/8" H cream pitcher of identical form and color, and with similar decoration that was likely from the same kiln firing as the present pitcher. It is now on display in the William C. and Susan S. Mariner Southern Ceramics Gallery at the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA), Winston-Salem, NC.
Catalogue Note: This piece was discovered in 1990 in the basement of the Zigler home, located on the same property as the pottery in Timberville, VA. The "1832" date establishes the manufacture of the pitcher during the first period of production at the Zigler pottery. The earliest products of the pottery quite often display a dark brown surface, like this one. Andrew Coffman was born in New Market, Virginia in 1795 and may have received training in the potting profession as a youth from Jacob and/or Christian Adam, important earthenware manufacturers who had recently moved from Hagerstown, Maryland. Little is known of Coffman's early life, but John Zigler's account books record him as an employee at his Timberville, Rockingham Co. pottery (six miles west of New Market) during the years 1829 to 1839. This time at Timberville was a formative period for Coffman, an era in his life when he evolved as both a craftsman and as a student of the business. Around 1840, he left Zigler's pottery and moved to the eastern part of the county. He first worked at the recently discovered East Point Pottery, formerly known as the Rickettsville Pottery, just west of Elkton, VA. Around 1843, he moved east of Elkton to the Beldor area, where he established his Cold Spring Factory at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Here he employed or trained a number of other important Shenandoah Valley potters, including John D. Heatwole. All five of Coffman's sons became potters, and two of his daughters married potters. Coffman's style and decorations were widely imitated by other Shenandoah Valley potters, and he is also believed to have introduced a new form in Shenandoah Valley stoneware with his production of short, bulbous, lidded preserve jars featuring applied arched handles, dubbed "squat pots". Both literally and figuratively, the father of Rockingham County pottery, Andrew Coffman, is considered a pioneer in Shenandoah Valley stoneware and a highly important Southern craftsman.
Condition
Excellent overall condition, having a minor chip to the end of the spout, a hairline crack to the base extending about 1" up two sides, and white residue to the interior.
Provenance
From the collection of Benny Long, New Market, VA.
Jeffrey S. Evans (T/A GVA), 8/11/1990.
The M. Otto Zigler (1907-1990) estate, Zigler Homeplace, Timberville, VA.
Descended in the Zigler family directly from the original pottery owner, John Zigler (1786-1856).
Exhibited: "'A Great Deal of Stone & Earthen Ware,' The Rockingham County, Virginia School of Folk Pottery", Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society, September 7 - December 30, 2004, No. 35.
