North Carolina Moravian earthenware caster in the form of a chicken with an overall green glaze, incised feather and eye decoration, 9 small openings below the beak and a molded comb and feet, all on an integral domed base. 4 1/8" H x 4" L. Note: An original 1891 letter accompanies this lot. The 77 year old writer, C. M. Witt, recalls this piece belonging to his grandmother, Elizabeth Horner (b. Jefferson County, TN 1838 – d. Whitesburg/Hamblen County, TN 1916), who used it as a "pepper shaker". Old label reading "98" on underside of chicken corresponds to a similar numbering system used on an inventory list created by Joseph Feamster Taylor (1892-1965) of Whitesburg, TN, son of Franklin Walter Taylor (1854-1919), grandson of Franklin William Taylor (1810-1897), great grandson of Lieutenant William Graham (1786-1857), the owner of the Early TN Militia coat in Lot 608, and father of Joseph Franklin Taylor (1934-2015), (as referenced on a powder horn, also in this sale). According to the book "The Moravian Potters in North Carolina", Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1972 by John Bivens, Jr., Moravian earthenware forms were probably being sold in frontier stores from Wytheville, Virginia to the Watauga settlement of East Tennessee (p.21, Bivens). Provenance: Descended in the consignor's family. Estate of Anne Harrison Taylor & Joseph F. Taylor, Morristown, TN. CONDITION: Old repaired break to base of chicken body where it joins the base. Scattered losses to glaze and scattered fleabites.