Jar

c. 1830

Edward William Farrar
American, 1807(?)-1845
Middlebury, Vermont
Active 1825/1839

Stamped with the name of its maker, Edward William Farrar, this jar is the earliest marked example of Vermont redware currently known. Although early Vermont potters favored stoneware, some continued to work in the hand-thrown redware technique through the first part of the 19th century. Descended on both sides from important ceramists, Farrar learned his craft in his father’s Middlebury pottery. This jar is unusually monumental with exceptionally elaborate decoration: the stamped bands of geometric design contrast with the curves of the green glaze swags and the ruffles around the neck. These elements, coupled with the fact that the jar is signed, may indicate that it was made as a matriculation piece to signal the end of Farrar’s apprenticeship to his father.

Status: On View, Gallery 227
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Edward William Farrar
Title: Jar
Origin: Middlebury
Date: c. 1830
Medium: Earthenware and lead and copper glazes
Dimensions: 23.9 × 21.3 cm (9 3/8 i× 8 3/8 in.)
Credit Line: Juli and David Grainger Fund
Reference Number: 2007.219
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Program of the 8th Annual New York Ceramics Fair, January 16–21, 2007, advertisement of The Stradlings, n.p. (ill.).
Annual Report (Art Institute of Chicago, 2006–2007), p. 19 (ill. p. 28).
Judith A. Barter and Monica Obniski, “For Kith and Kin: The Folk Art Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago,” (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press, 2012) no. 23 (ill.).

Unidentified New England Auction, c. 2006; sold to The Stradlings, New York, NY, c. 2006; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2007.

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