Franciscan Desert Rose Cookie Jar

FRANCISCAN DESERT ROSE COOKIE JAR WITH ROSEBUD FINIAL LID - INTERPACE ERA, LARGE SERVING SIZE One of the most sought-after pieces in the entire Franciscan Desert Rose line, this large lidded cookie jar stands about 10-1/4 inches tall and carries the pattern's hand-painted decoration in an unusually generous scale. The barrel-shaped body swells from a narrow foot to a broad shoulder and is decorated all the way around with a continuous brown thorny branch bearing big two-tone green leaves, fully opened pink wild roses with dotted yellow centers, and large closed pink buds, all in raised relief under a glossy cream glaze. The domed lid repeats the leafy vine around its edge and is crowned with a hand-modeled, hand-painted pink rosebud finial rising from a green sepal collar - the detail that makes this form instantly recognizable and that also makes intact examples harder to find. The jar bottom carries the Franciscan Interpace-era dotted oval backstamp with the OVEN SAFE, COLOR FAST line. Cookie jars are the top shelf of a Desert Rose collection, and this one coordinates with the Desert Rose dinner plates, bowls, cup and saucer sets, gravy boat, platter, and other serving pieces offered in this auction. Excellent as a working kitchen canister or as the centerpiece of a china cabinet or open shelf display. Sold as one piece with its lid, two parts total. Description Large lidded cookie jar in the Franciscan Desert Rose pattern, glazed earthenware, with its original matching lid Form: tall barrel or ovoid body on a narrow recessed foot, wide sloping shoulder, straight collared mouth with a seat for the lid, and a low domed lid with a molded, hand-painted rosebud finial on a green sepal collar Measures approximately 10-1/4 inches tall overall including the lid and finial, per the tape-measure photographs, with the hook set on the tabletop and the tape run vertically alongside the jar Mouth opening measures approximately 5 inches across per the tape laid over the rim; the body's widest diameter and the lid's diameter were not measured with the tape. Bidders should verify all dimensions from the photographs Decoration wraps the full circumference: continuous olive-brown thorny branch, broad green leaves in two tones with darker green shading, at least two fully opened five-petal pink roses with elongated yellow centers dotted in dark brown, and several large closed pink buds, all in raised relief Lid decoration: green leaves and a brown-green vine following the outer edge, with a fully sculpted pink rosebud finial at the center Interior is plain glazed cream, unmarked and undecorated Underside is glazed with a recessed foot and small round stilt or kiln-support points, which are normal firing artifacts of the manufacturing process rather than damage Backstamp on the jar bottom, photographed close up, is the brown dotted oval with the script Franciscan over EARTHENWARE, a small at upper left and at upper right inside the oval, INTERPACE faintly struck across the top of the ring, MADE IN U.S.A. across the bottom of the ring, then a faintly struck two-part number below the oval reading approximately 40-70, and beneath that OVEN SAFE, COLOR FAST. The ring lettering and the number are lightly struck and partly illegible in the photographs An old adhesive price sticker reading 300.00 in ink is still attached to the underside of the jar and is visible in the photographs. It is a prior price tag, not an auction estimate or reserve, and can be soaked off by the buyer The underside of the lid was not photographed, so its mark, if any, is not shown. Lids in this pattern are frequently unmarked Attribution note Desert Rose was introduced in 1941 by Gladding, McBean & Co. of Los Angeles, California, and became the best-selling pattern of American dinnerware ever produced, with California manufacture continuing into the mid-1980s. Gladding, McBean was absorbed into the Interpace Corporation in the early 1960s, so a ring mark reading INTERPACE rather than GLADDING, McBEAN & CO. places a piece roughly in the mid-1960s through 1970s window, and the OVEN SAFE, COLOR FAST line together with a two-part number below the oval is the standard format for that period. Later Wedgwood-era Desert Rose marks read England or Portugal rather than U.S.A. Replacements, Ltd. catalogs and the Gladding, McBean Franciscan archive both document this progression of marks and identify the raised relief hand-painted rose decoration as the defining feature of the pattern. The two-part number is a mold and period notation rather than a retail code. The mark reading, era, pattern identification, and all dimensions given here are offered as the consignor's photo-based opinion and are not guaranteed; portions of the mark are too faint to read with certainty. Bid on the item as pictured. Condition Used vintage condition, sold as-is. The jar was photographed from multiple sides, with the lid on and off, from above into the open mouth, in clo