Descrizione
Antique Meyer Texas Stoneware Jug 2 qt. Excuse me for calling this cute, but it is. Great size. I'm guessing at the 2qt, maybe 1 qt, definitely not a gallon,
don't have time to check. 8.5" tall x 6" wide with handle, a few very small
nicks on top rim. No large chips, no cracks, no restorations.
Meyer Pottery Co. 1887 - 1964 Franz Schultz founded this company in 1887 with
his son in law William Meyer at the Atascosa Community in Bexar County just
Southwest of San Antonio. Schultz, an 1885 immigrant from Germany, was reared in
a pottery-making family, and, upon his arrival in Texas, he found work in the
pottery shop of William Saenger. Shortly thereafter he was joined by William
Meyer, who had arrived in Texas on the same ship with Schultz. Meyer not only
went to work for Saenger, but married Schultz's daughter Mary. Soon Meyer's
sister Maria arrived with her potter husband Ernst Richter, who would go on to
establish the Star Pottery Co. in Elmendorf. When Schultz and Meyer got word of
a good clay outcropping at Atascosa to the west, they set up their own company
to produce all types of utilitarian stoneware. The Meyer Pottery was one of very
few Texas companies of the period who continued to rely primarily on a native
clay source for their slip glaze. Rejecting the newly available commercial
Bristol and Albany slips, the Meyer Co. chose, either for aesthetic or financial
reasons, to dig their own slip clay from the banks of nearby Leon Creek. It is
primarily this slip, unique in Texas pottery, that makes the Meyer work so
recognizable. Also their shoulder-to-shoulder ring handle attachment is rare on
Texas pottery. The Leon slip fires to a wide range of colors from dark brown to
light mustard. Most have a greenish tint. Upon William Meyer's death in 1920,
his two sons, Frank Meyer (b. 1888) and Gustav (Gus) Meyer (b. 1896) took over
the family business. They continued to manufacture utilitarian vessels well into
the 1940s. I know of no piece of normal production utilitarian ware with a
"Meyer" mark. There is a handful of "specialty" items with marks, including
advertising pieces and a type of cistern float. But it is the striking, mustard
to brown to olive green "Leon Slip" glaze that is the best known Meyer
signature, and this is a beautiful example of that classic look.
