Pisgah Forest
Stoneware Vase
This rare Pisgah Forest handled
vase is a creation of W. B. Stephens from North Carolina Pottery at the end of
the Arts and Crafts era. This fine vase features an unusual cameo
decoration in white against a deep navy blue high glaze background. The
decoration, as pictured above, includes a variety of Masonic symbols... the
pillars of Boaz and Jachin, hourglass, sun, moon, shovel, coffin and sprig of
acacia. The bulbous base of the vase is a high glaze turquoise and the
interior, a bright pink. It measures
6 1/2" tall and is 5 3/4" wide at the looping, applied handles. It
is marked with the Pisgah Forest raised in mold mark, the date, (which I think
is 1940), and the signature, in ink, of W. B. Stephens.
The Coffin symbolizes "death to
the old life"; this death is necessary before one can take part in the
mysteries of Freemasonry and enter upon its duties. Like the "Phoenix," the
resurrection to a new life is inferred. The "Coffin" containing the remains of
a deceased friend and Brother reminds Masons that we are the custodians of a
great heritage passed along to us in the story of the "Hiramic Legend"
