AFA Summer 2019

Summer 106 www.afamag.com |  www.incollect.com Face jar, unidentified maker from Miles Mill Pottery, Edgefield District, S.C., ca. 1870. Alkaline glazed stoneware and unglazed porcelain. 28 x 14½ x 14½ in. Purchase with funds from the Decorative Arts Acquisition Endowment (1997.190). The Southern face jug has both African and European roots, yet its development and cultural significance in the nineteenth century are closely related to African- American potters and communities. Grotesque features were hand modeled in clay and applied to a wheel-turned vessel. Teeth and eyes were formed from white clay (kaolin) or other materials and inserted into the stoneware body. While not readily perceived today as depictions of individuals, face jugs are among the most sculptural American ceramics and were used equally for functional or symbolic and spiritual purposes within African- American communities. This vessel’s form is quite exceptional not only for its monumental size but also in that it has a jar, rather than jug, shape. A hole near its bottom edge indicates that the jar might have functioned as a water cooler into which a spout tap could have been inserted.