There is a great antique store I frequent in downtown Cohoes, NY, near Albany; this stoneware bottle has been sitting atop the front counter there for a bit and has struck me anew with its beauty every time I've visited, time and again making me think of a Morandi still life. On my latest visit, I gave in. It's an unusual one for its faceted, eight sided form, an early example of a pressed stoneware bottle from what I've learned, and was produced by W (Washington) Smith, whose Greenwich Pottery on West Eighteenth Street in Manhattan was founded in 1833. The bottle is impressed with a mark reading "PATENT / PRESSED / W. SMITH" inside of a shield, which from what I’ve learned dates it to to the 1850-1862. More than photos convey, it is the irregularity and nuance to the form, and color, and surface that make this feel really special; painterly really feels like the best word, though very sculptural too.
6 1/8" t x 2 7/8" d. A few very old surface chips--around the base and one around the lip, as documented--to my eye not in the least detracting.
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