The cobalt blue pitcher seen here was likely a trade good presented to Cherokee Chief Oconostota. The style of the ceramic pitcher, with a serpent motif handle, grasping the lip in its mouth, is typical of English potteries in the Liverpool area in the late 1700s. Lee-Sic, a Cherokee, presented the pitcher to Sarah Childress Polk during her term as First Lady of the United States in 1845. A letter accompanying the pitcher states that it descended in the family of Lee-Sic from Oconostota and was used during the negotiations related to the Treaty of Hopewell in 1785. Lee-Sic’s letter concludes with, “the antiquated pitcher, thus descended to the family who now has a right of bequeathing it, is herewith presented to Mrs. Polk…with the sincere and ardent prayer that she may live long in prosperity and happiness, and that she may sometimes think kindly of the Cherokee people.”
Collection: Tennessee Historical Society Collection
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