JOHN COFFMAN, ROCKINGHAM CO., SHENANDOAH VALLEY OF

JOHN COFFMAN, ROCKINGHAM CO., SHENANDOAH VALLEY OF VIRGINIA INSCRIBED AND DECORATED STONEWARE SQUAT POT / PRESERVE JAR, salt-glazed, globular form with plain flat-top rim and grooved, arched handles. Neatly inscribed "Peach" on one side with "Francis Mc mulen" on reverse, having erratic incised lines below one handle. Brushed cobalt at handle terminals and highlighting inscriptions. John Coffman (1824-1899), Park Factory, Eastern Rockingham Co., VA. 1845-1856. 7 1/4" H, 6 3/4" D rim.
Having a few flakes to rim, otherwise undamaged.
Literature: Parallels Evans/Suter - "'A Great Deal of Stone & Earthen Ware': The Rockingham County, Virginia School of Folk Pottery", p. 38, figs. 20, 21.
Catalogue Note: This jar is likely inscribed for Francis Marion McMullan (1830-1905), a distinguished lawyer, judge, and educator from Stanardsville, Greene Co., Virginia. During the Civil War, he served as Captain of the Greene Guards and 4th VA Heavy Artillery. After the war, he and his wife ran a school in Stanardsville until it was incorporated into the public school system in 1876. McMullan served as Judge of Madison Co. from 1886 to 1904. _x000D_
The Coffman family pottery site was located in Beldor, which is directly across the Blue Ridge Mountains through Swift Run Gap, about 12 miles west of Stanardsville. A sizable number of Coffman squat pots have been recovered in Greene and adjoining Madison Counties, indicating the Coffmans were selling their wares across the mountain in this northwestern Piedmont region.
Condition Report: Having a few flakes to rim, otherwise undamaged.