A Good Heavily Cobalt Decorated Stoneware Sugar Bowl Found Yesterday in Northern Massachusetts that I Suspect Dates from the 1700s

While out and about yesterday with my niece Alexis, we came across this very good heavily cobalt decorated stoneware double-handled sugar bowl with its original lid, whereas the lid appears to have been salt-glazed, while the bowl was not. 

Interestingly, I suspect this object dates from the 1700s, seeing that the basic shape of the bowl reminds me of stoneware mugs made in Germany in the eighteenth century, where the shape was then altered to form a handled bowl. The application of the cobalt on the bowl and lid is also quite sophisticated based on all of the alternating intricate designs that completely cover the object.

Furthermore, what also struck me about the shape of this bowl is how it resembles one of my favorite slip decorated red earthenware forms produced throughout the Mid-Atlantic region in America in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. However, there is also at least one example of this type of lidded sugar bowl known with American stoneware potters, an eighteenth century example that sold through Crocker Farm in Maryland in the spring of 2020, which was attributed to Manhattan: https://www.crockerfarm.com/stoneware-auction/2020-03-21/lot-41/Extremely-Rare-and-Important-Colonial-Manhattan-Stoneware-Sugar-Bowl/.

Additionally, the reason I suspect the lid is original is because both the bottom of the lid and the bowl's wire-cut base are inscribed with the number "4."

I also want to add that the shop that we discovered this in is the same place that we just found a seventeenth century stoneware jug with its original pewter lid from Westerwald Germany; I have been going in this shop in northern Massachusetts for almost twenty years now and these are the first things that I have ever found in there. 

Nonetheless, I have never seen anything like this before so I would appreciate any help with narrowing a location of manufacture...if anyone reading this post can help with that information.

A Good Heavily Cobalt Decorated Stoneware Sugar Bowl

Heavily Cobalt Decorated Stoneware Sugar Bowl with Original Lid

I Suspect It Dates from the 1700s

Found Yesterday in Massachusetts 

The Basic Shape of the Bowl is Like a German Stoneware Mug from the 1700s

Both the Base of the Lid and Bowl are Inscribed with the Number "4"

Stands 5 1/2" Tall with the Lid

Measures 6 1/2" Wide

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Another View of the Bowl

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Another View of the Bowl

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A View of One of the Handles

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A View of the Other Handle

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A View of the Lid

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Another View of the Bowl and the Lid

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Another View of the Bowl and the Lid

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Both the Bottom of the Lid and the Bowl Are Inscribed with the Number "4"

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Note: I found this eighteenth century stoneware pitcher from the Alsace region in France about ten years ago in the basement of an old home in Beverly, Massachusetts. The reason I am posting this piece is just to show that these types of objects do show up in unexpected contexts of American ownership. The story I was given about this object (and others found in the house) was that the man who owned the home made frequent trips to Europe in the 1950s and 1960s, and he often brought objects home with him that he found in his travels.

18th Century Stoneware Pitcher with Incised and Infilled Cobalt Decoration

Attributed to the Alsace Region in France

Found Years Ago in a Basement in Beverly, Mass.

Stands About 6" Tall

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Another View of the Pitcher

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A View of the Handle

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Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...