This early Cincinnati-style 'Moon Flask' stands 8.25" high by 7" across by 2" wide. It is a classic 'Pilgrim' vase form. This vase predates the Rookwood Pottery, likely dating to c1880. Faience-decorated pottery became all the rage in the late 1870s after the Centennial in Philadelphia in 1876 where Barbotine Faience vessels were introduced by the French. The two women credited with the start of the art pottery movement in the US were Maria Nichols and Louise McLaughlin. Their early work began at local Cincinnati area potteries, namely Coultry Pottery and Hamilton Road, AKA Dallas Pottery. They used the kilns to fire their wares.  It was the real beginning of decorated art pottery in the United States. Utilitarian wares were produced in abundance before this period, but decorative pottery had its start in Cincinnati. The potteries employed potters and artists, the likes of Thomas J. Wheatley at Coultry Pottery, and others at Dallas Pottery to instruct fledgling artists, most were women, and a few men. There were many future 'pottery celebs' who attended classes at the potteries, the likes of John and Martin Rettig, Albert Valentein, and many more. There are numerous articles published in the Journal of the American Art Pottery Association, detailing the history of the early Cincinnati movement, the Coultry and Dallas potteries, as well as other small studios. If this is an area of interest to you, you will be enlightened by their history and the wares they produced. Whether this vase was made at Coultry or Dallas Pottery, or even France is anyone's guess. It is marked with numbers and what appear to be letters, but some is covered by glaze, and does not bear any other identifiers. This vase is faience decorated with a single rose-colored blossom and leaves, in a very impressionistic style, over a stormy dark blue ground applied in a painterly style. This vessel has been well cared for over the last 130 plus years. It is in excellent condition, with the usual clay nuances, and a very good restoration to a nick on one foot and a break in one petal of the blossom, all shown in the photos. If you like French Barbotine and/or early Cincinnati Art Pottery, this is truly a historical gem.