COBALT POTPOURRI JAR
Probably Gjøvik, Norway, early 19th century, height:14.5 inches

These glass jars were once featured in American museums and books about American glass as examples of early nineteenth-century glass made at William Henry Stiegel’s (1729-1785) glassworks in Manheim, Pennsylvania. An example owned by the Toledo Museum of Art was embossed on the cover and for a full-page illustration of a 1936 edition of American Glass by Mary Northend. The McKearns illustrated examples in their 1941 American Glass. Since then, scholars have realized that identical covered jars were being made in Gjøvik, Norway where they are called “potpouri krukke” or potpourri jar.

Cobalt potpouri krukker with white threaded decorations are found in several Norwegian museums, but I don’t understand Norwegian so I can’t be more accurate about the date of my example than “early nineteenth century.”