Rare Cobalt-Decorated Stoneware Preserve Jar, attributed to the Coffman family, Rockingham Co., VA, circa 1850, squat-shaped, highly ovoid jar with ribbed lug handles, decorated on the front and back with an undulating vine bearing ball-shaped fruit or flower blossoms. The unusual decoration, which incorporates round objects into the vine motif, may indeed allude to the jar's intended use as a fruit jar, to hold apples, plums, or peaches. Handle terminals brushed with cobalt. Based on stylistic similarities, this preserve jar may have been made by Andrew Coffman or one of his descendants. Provenance: Dr. Raymond L. Owen Collection. Chips to rim and molding below rim. Short, thin line in rim. Lines on underside, continuing onto base area of jar, which appear to be in-the-making. Tiny handle chip. H 7 1/4".