Edgefield District, South Carolina, possibly circa mid 1820s to 1840s, possibly made at a Pottersville manufactory, or a Horse Creek Valley manufactory, and possibly attributed to either A.F. Brannon or Abram, monumental tapered lower body and shoulder ovoid form, dark brown and light brown double dipped washed alkaline glaze, long glaze runs down from shoulder of jug, series of stacked line runs around the side of jug from turning jug horizontally and spinning in the glazing process, apparent 3 in. capital "AB" in the glaze to front shoulder of jug, large applied arched 7 in. x 2 in. strap handles on opposing shoulders, 2 x 2-1/2 in. collared spout, 1-1/4 in. drain hole to lower base edge, 22-1/4 in. tall, 47-1/2 in. circumference

Provenance: Private South Carolina Collection

Note: This is a very rare and important new to the market find, one of very few large scale Edgefield District water coolers that are known, this is possibly the only known large scale surviving example of an Edgefield District water cooler not made by Thomas Chandler, A. F. Brannon was known to be active in the in the Pottersville, Horse Creek Valley area in the 1820''s, a jug with a similar glaze and a "Y" stamp on the base edge sold recently at the SFPCS August 2, 2025 sale, lot 233 with an A.F. Brannon attribution, see the SFPCS catalog 61 for more information, Abram was a known documented enslaved artisan in the Edgefield District, he is named in historical records from 1795 to1842 as being associated with various owners and stoneware manufactories associated with Pottersville, see Great & Noble Jar: Traditional Stoneware of South Carolina, by Cinda K. Baldwin, McKissick Museum, University of South Carolina, The University of Georgia Press, pg. 217; a few signed Abram pieces have turned up on forms with an "L. Miles" stamp, those pieces were manufactured at the Stoney Bluff Manufactory in Horse Creek Valley, for a sherd stamped "L. Miles" with a "Dave" and "Abram" signature from the Toussaint Collection see Hear Me Know: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield South Carolina, Adrienne Spinozzi, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Yale University Press, pg. 112, another example was offered at Ledbetter Auctions on May 14th, 2022, stamped "L. Miles" with an "ABrum" or "ABum" signature, the in the glaze "AB" mark on the cooler we offer here relates to the signature on the Ledbetter Auctions piece.