Salt-glazed gray stoneware souvenir bottle, attributed to Wallace Kirkpatrick (1828-1896) Anna, Union County, Illinois, 1880-1885

Overall surface incised with line map depicting the Mississippi River and the Illinois Central, Cairo, and St. Louis Railroads, inscribed: Chicago / the Corn Crib / Tolano / Mattoon / Effingham / Odin / Centralia / Ashley / DuQuoin / Carbondale / Mounds / Cairo / Grand Tower / Miss. River / St. Louis the future Capital in / from / Jno Gaubatz / with a little good old Rye / Cincinnati the / Porkopolis / Ohio Riv

Gary and Nancy Stass, New Canaan, Connecticut
Barry Cohen, New York
Kate and Joel Kopp, America Hurrah, and David A. Schorsch, New York, 1990

"The Barry Cohen Collection of Early American Stoneware," Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1975

Schorsch, David A., The Barry Cohen Collection, New York: America Hurrah and David A. Schorsch, 1990, p. 78
Walters, Donald R., "The Barry Cohen Collection of American Stoneware," Antiques and the Arts Weekly (Oct. 17, 1975): 21
American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum, p. 156, fig. 121

Old chip on right side of the snout.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The sons of an Ohio and Illinois potter, Wallace and Cornwall Kirkpatrick founded one of the most successful potteries in the Midwest, in Anna, Illinois, about fifteen miles from Mound City. The brothers achieved quick success, reported in the (Jonesboro, Ill.) Gazette of December 3, 1859, as "equal to any we have seen anywhere. It is composed of the best clay, well gotten up by neat and skillful workmen; the patterns are the most improved style, well burned, and showing generally that the workmen by whom it was made thoroughly understand the business." Both brothers were active in civic politics, belonged to several influential fraternal and political organizations, and were members of the United Friends of Temperance. By the 1880s, the pottery employed a large number of workers and produced a full range of utilitarian and novelty pottery, including many of these small pig-shaped flasks, grotesque jugs teeming with demonic serpents and distorted human faces, humorous animal figures, pipes, and whistles.

Much of the wares made at the Anna potteries by the Kirkpatricks used locally available gray stoneware clays decorated with brown "Albany" slips and blue cobalt oxide highlights. While many of the novelty wares conveyed clearly the potter's ideas surrounding the evils of drink, evidence suggests these small drinking flasks, with the spout placed at the pig's rear, were given as political souvenirs and often presented, as this example is inscribed, "with a little good old Rye." -J.L.L.