original and intact nineteenth century antique mead style red stoneware jar manufactured by louisville potters lewis & co. the wide body reaches a flared shoulder that tapers into a short neck and applied collar. the reddish-brown salt-glazed pottery is in good condition with little surface wear. there is a small flat chip at the base and at the shoulder. "lewis & co." is stamped directly above the heel. in 1815 a young potter, jacob lewis established the lewis pottery company in louisville. as large numbers of immigrants started to flux into the area, lewis was there to supply stoneware storage containers for sugar, flour, or whiskey. large 30 gallon crocks would be filled with grain and sealed with a wooden top and beeswax to keep rats from damaging the goods. lewis also produced everday necessities such as butter churns, bowls, and plates that were less expensive than the pewter plates of the day. stoneware is a type of pottery fired to a high temperature. while it originated in the rhineland area of germany around the 1400s, it became the dominant house-ware of the united states circa 1780-1890. americans began producing salt-glazed stoneware about 1720 in philadelphia, pennsylvania and yorktown, virginia. there the crolius and remmey families (two of the most important families in the history of american pottery production) would, by the turn of the 19th century, set the standard for expertly crafted and aesthetically pleasing american stoneware. by the 1770s, the art of salt-glazed stoneware production had spread throughout the united states. american stoneware pottery was usually covered in a salt-glaze and often decorated using cobalt oxide to produce bright blue decorations.while other types of stoneware were concurrently produced in america – such as ironstone, yellowware and various types of china – in common usage of the term, “american stoneware” refers to this specific type of pottery. by 1820, stoneware was being produced in virtually every american urban center, with potters from maryland to kentucky. commercial distilleries in the kentucky’s rural areas were on the rise, as was louisville’s stoneware industry, which produced the jugs used to package the region’s precious bourbon. bourbon was sold to general stores and saloons in wooden barrels. customers brought stoneware jugs to be filled, and the proprietors quickly grabbed onto this marketing opportunity. they had stoneware jugs printed with the name of their establishments for store customers to buy and have filled, and refilled, for the cost of the bourbon.