McCARTY MISSISSIPPI COBALT BLUE ART POTTERY VASE

Updated August 8, 2026

AVAILABLE for SHIPPING or LOCAL PICKUP > Large McCarty Pottery studio art vase standing 12-1/2" tall and measuring 7" in diameter across the raised, broadly flared mouth. The shoulder varies from approximately 6" to 7" across due to the intentionally altered form, with softly compressed or pinched sides creating an irregular, almost faceted silhouette rather than a uniformly rounded vessel. The substantial vase is finished in McCarty’s characteristic cobalt blue glaze, displaying mottled passages of periwinkle, deep blue, blue-green and smoky gray. The glaze gathers more heavily around the elevated mouth, forming a darker border and feathered transition into the body. The deeply flared opening creates a broad basin-like rim above the narrowed neck, while the interior continues the layered cobalt and blue-green coloration. Scattered small openings in the glaze are properly described as glaze pinholes, with several larger examples approaching small glaze craters. These result when gases pass through the molten glaze during firing and do not completely heal before cooling. Here they contribute to the visibly handmade and kiln-fired character of the surface. Lee and Pup McCarty established McCartys Pottery in Merigold, Mississippi, in 1954, working from a former mule barn in the Mississippi Delta. Their pottery became nationally recognized for hand-formed vessels, sculptural forms and distinctive glazes developed through decades of experimentation. By the 1970s, cobalt blue, jade and nutmeg brown had become the pottery’s principal signature glaze colors. The underside bears a cryptic hand-inscribed marking, together with three circular firing-support marks.

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