(Edgefield, South Carolina, b. circa 1800, d. after 1873) made by Dave Drake, Lewis Miles Stony Bluff Manufactory, Horse Creek Valley, Edgefield District, S.C., ovoid form, speckled greenish brown alkaline glaze, some glaze runs to upper shoulder, evidence of fingertip in glaze at base edge, applied strap handle with impressed finger mark at terminus, tooled collared spout with rounded rim,  inscribed "Lm / May 29 - 1857 / Dave" on front of shoulder, three punctates and two slash marks visible on upper side shoulder, likely three gallon capacity, 14-3/4 in. height, 38-3/4 in. circumference

Provenance: A Private Southern Collection, descended in the family of the consignor, originally owned by the consignor's grandparents who lived in Woodville Georgia which is around 90 miles west of Edgefield South Carolina. The jug turned up in a barn on a farm the family purchased 80 years ago. Given to the consignor's mother approximately 40 years ago and recently given to the consignor.  

Note: Believed to be a fresh to the market example, this jug is not documented in the Arthur F. Goldberg and James P. Witkowski article "Beneath His Magic Touch: The Dated Vessels of the African American Slave Potter Dave", published by the Chipstone Foundation in Ceramics in America 2006, edited by Rob Hunter.  This jug also shares a date with a jar we are offering in this sale.  Signed and dated forms by Dave with the same date are very uncommon, per the aforementioned article there are only two other pairs of wares that share the same date.  The time it takes and difficulty in producing wares of this quality and size likely have something to do with that.  New to the market examples like this one have been turning up since the article was published and an updated listing of Dave's signed and dated wares is currently in the works.

glaze voids and anomalies as made, very thin old 4-1/2 in. hairline in exterior glaze from spout to "2" in date with small, possibly associated, less than 1/2 in. thin glaze chip, some very small glaze chips to body, small glaze chip to handle next to glaze frit, firing hairlines to terminus of handle as made, 3-1/2 in. hairline abrasion to glaze at belly, base edge wear with old chip, firing lines to base edge as made, very good condition overall, a rare surviving specimen of this form with very few apologies, a fine example of Dave's work