The 1850 manufacturing census recorded the Cogburn Pottery at Chalk Hill in Rusk County, Texas, owned by Tomlinson Cogburn, whose father, Cyrus Cogburn, had learned the potter’s trade in the Edgefield District of South Carolina. At that time, Tomlinson Cogburn employed two workers at twenty-five dollars per month each, though enslaved workers would have provided additional labor.

This ovoid jar bears an impressed two-gallon capacity mark and displays the streaks and runs characteristic of alkaline glazing.