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Face jugs spread westward as potters, trained in Philadelphia and Baltimore, migrated to Ohio and other parts of the Midwest. Edgefield was the center for the migration of talented potters who carried their skills and face jug concepts throughout the South.
Beginning in the mid-20th century, most face vessels were made for a growing collecting boom. Contemporary makers of face jugs continue the tradition by adding imagery and forms that more reflect the complex social and political milieu of the modern age.
Exhibition History“Through the Eyes of Others: African Americans and Identity in American Art”, New York State Museum, Albany, NY, August 28, 2009 – January 14, 2010; Fenimore House Museum, Cooperstown, NY, August 23, 2008 – December 31, 2008.
Artist
Unidentified Artist
(American)
Face Jug
Date1820-1850
DimensionsOverall: 11 3/4 × 10 1/2 × 5 1/8 in. (29.8 × 26.7 × 13 cm)
Object numberN0225.1951
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Museum Purchase
Label TextFace jugs are an iconic American art form. These striking anthropomorphic vessels were the result of the mixing of European forms with new American styles. Face jugs were made in the Northeast in limited numbers in the mid-1800s, but the face jug form grew and became more uniquely American when it was brought from Baltimore to the pottery center of Edgefield, South Carolina. There, enslaved and later free African American potters produced vessels which may have been made for spiritual as well as utilitarian purposes. Later, the face jug was adopted and modified by white potters and became a commercial art form.Face jugs spread westward as potters, trained in Philadelphia and Baltimore, migrated to Ohio and other parts of the Midwest. Edgefield was the center for the migration of talented potters who carried their skills and face jug concepts throughout the South.
Beginning in the mid-20th century, most face vessels were made for a growing collecting boom. Contemporary makers of face jugs continue the tradition by adding imagery and forms that more reflect the complex social and political milieu of the modern age.
Exhibition History“Through the Eyes of Others: African Americans and Identity in American Art”, New York State Museum, Albany, NY, August 28, 2009 – January 14, 2010; Fenimore House Museum, Cooperstown, NY, August 23, 2008 – December 31, 2008.
On View
On view
