A phenomenal redware presentation flowerpot with applied decoration of a cat chasing a bird, impressed READY FOR A CATCH, by Absalom Bixler, Earl Township, Lancaster County, Pa., ca. 1850, is among the stars of the next Crocker Farm auction, which will run from Friday, March 25, to Friday, April 8. The flowerpot typifies the exuberance of the Pennsylvania-German style in its hand-modeled sculpture of a cat ready to pounce on a bird perched on a branch. This work, along with a group of related pieces, was made by Bixler for his wife, Sarah, to commemorate their courtship. Its remarkable state of preservation indicates it was sparingly used, and its size sets it apart as one of Bixlers finest surviving works. It measures 10.25-by-10.25 inches. The glaze treatment includes highly unusual cobalt slip applied to the bird, branch, and black cat. The bird and branch are composed of white clay, which, when fired under lead, produced a yellowish glazed surface, thereby turning the cobalt brushwork a greenish hue in this part of the design. Bixlers innovative idea to use two different clays on the same piece results in a particularly striking contrast of colors. A comparable example resides in a Philadelphia area collection. The cat on that example has tiger-like strips. A smaller Bixler flowerpot, 6 inches high, with just an applied bird on branch, no cat, realized $32,760 at the Shelley sale in 2007 at Pook & Pook. Dealer Sidney Gecker was the buyer, dealer David Good underbid. The one consigned to Crocker Farm was illustrated on the cover of The Magazine Antiques, Sept. 1982, and came from an estate in California. We were contacted by an estate in Orange County with some nice redware and Brandt and I flew there during the day and took the red eye back that night. The owner had bought it many years ago at Sothebys, mentioned Luke Zipp. To learn more, call 410-472-2016 or visit www.crockerfarm.com.