Daniel Seagle (Lincoln County, NC, 1805-1867), Eight Gallon Storage Jar

Circa 1850, highly ovoid stoneware jar with dark glossy alkaline glaze, having a slightly rolled rim and wide arched dual lug handles, featuring dark glaze runs with attractive golden rutile, one handle stamped "DS" within a rectangular reserve, the opposing handle is stamped "8".


16 x 15 x 15 in.

Daniel Seagle is the earliest known Catawba Valley potter and began making his pieces in the early 19th century for neighbors as utilitarian works. Seagle used the alkaline glaze, comprised of wood ash, silica in the form of sand or powdered glass, and clay, with water to control viscosity. It was fired to 2500 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. Seagle’s glossy, runny, greenish glaze has been identified with Catawba Valley pottery ever since, even when other innovations came on the scene.

Overall good condition; some scattered areas of flaking or leaching to the glaze.