J. & E. NORTON, BENNINGTON, VERMONT; DECORATION ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN HILFINGER (1826-1888), 1850-1859

Founded by cousins Julius and Edward and operating during the 1850s, the J. & E. Norton pottery produced some of the most exuberantly decorated stoneware from nineteenth-century America. Among the pottery's employees was German-born John Hilfinger (1826-1888) and the distinctive rendition of the stag seen here features on numerous Norton wares attributed to Hilfinger's hand. See, for example, a six-gallon crock at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (acc. no. 1993.546).