Irish-born potter John Cranston came to Denton County, Texas, from Missouri, purchasing land for his pottery there in 1854. Cranston died about 1867, and his widow, Nancy Cranston, continued the firm’s operation. Some of Cranston’s pots feature cobalt slip decoration, common on wares from Northeastern and Midwestern potteries, but rare in Texas.

Among the smallest of the Texas stoneware objects in the Bayou Bend Collection, this small cream pitcher demonstrates that despite the preponderance of storage containers, the utilitarian pottery was sometimes used for tabletop utensils.