Important and scarce stoneware jar, signed in script, “Jesse Vestal 1880”. This storage jar is illustrated in “Great Road Style: The Decorative Arts Legacy of Southwest Virginia & Northeast Tennessee”, Betsy K. White, University of Virginia Press, p. 140, figure 124. It was also in the “Legacy in Clay: Pottery of Washington County, Virginia” 2005 exhibit, William King Regional Arts Center, Abingdon, VA and illustrated in the “Legacy in Clay” exhibit catalog. Condition – faint, tight hairline near rim. 8 3/4″ height. Circa 1880. Jesse/Jessee Vestal (born 1828 North Carolina – died 1904 Virginia) is known for his beautifully incised script on pottery. His family appears to have been in Washington Co. VA by 1833. In the 1850 census he is listed as still living with his parents. Both Jesse and his father are recorded as farmers. However, his most famous piece of pottery, a jug with a poem on it, is dated 1849. This jug is owned by the William King Regional Arts Center in Abingdon (refer to “Legacy in Clay: Pottery of Washington County, Virginia”, William King Regional Arts Center, Abingdon, VA and “Great Road Style: The Decorative Arts Legacy of Southwest Virginia and East Tennessee”, Betsy K. White). While Jesse’s father is listed as a farmer in the 1850 Population Census, he appears as the only potter in the 1850 Schedule of Manufactures for Washington Co. (Source: Potters on the Holston prepared by C. Espenshade.) Espenshade describes this jar on page 69. Jesse married into the Miller family of potters. At least one of his sons became a potter. Research courtesy of Carole Wahler.