Decorated Stoneware Cooler

This two-handled cooler ranks as a masterpiece of both craftsmanship and decoration. It was almost certainly made as a presentation piece to mark a special occasion, but its precise reason for being is not known. The two hearts may indicate a wedding, yet the Liberty Pole with flags suggests a political scene. The basket of tulips, though common in Germanic folk arts, is the only such design found on Cushman's stoneware. Paul Cushman was one of the founders of a regional stoneware industry that spanned the Upper Hudson Valley. When he moved to Albany around 1800, there were few local potters, but his pottery works became a long-lived and successful business that also initiated a century of tremendous growth and expansion in regional stoneware manufacturing.