Face Jug

CC0 Public Domain Designation

Arts of the Americas

c. 1860

Artist unknown (American, 19th century)
Edgefield District, South Carolina

This vessel is similar to the earliest known face jugs made in South Carolina and Georgia in the second half of the 1800s. Beginning in 1858 a number of enslaved people from the Kongo region of central Africa were trained as potters in the Edgefield District of South Carolina. They produced utilitarian wares as well as their own pottery. Jugs such as this one are thought to have been used for ritual or religious purposes as they are too small to hold enough water for a field hand. A number of such jugs have been found along routes of the Underground Railroad, suggesting they were valuable enough to be carried as their owners attempted to escape slavery.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Artist unknown
Title: Face Jug
Place: Edgefield county (Object made in:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: c. 1860
Medium: Stoneware and alkaline glaze
Dimensions: H.: 13.3 cm (5 1/4 in.)
Credit Line: Juli and David Grainger Fund
Reference Number: 2006.84
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/186659/manifest.json

Charles G. Zug, III, The Traditional Pottery of North Carolina (University of North Carolina Press, 1981).
John A. Burrison, Brothers in Clay (University of Georgia Press, 1983).
Charles G. Zug, III, Turners and Burners: The Folk Potters of North Carolina (University of North Carolina, 1986).
Cinda K. Baldwin, Great and Noble Jar: Traditional Stoneware of South Carolina, (McKissick Museum/University of South Carolina Press, 1993).
Nancy Sweezy, Raised in Clay: The Southern Pottery Tradition (University of North Carolina Press, 1994).
Annual Report (Art Institute of Chicago, 2005–2006), 22 (ill. p. 29).
Frances McQueeney–Jones Mascolo, “For Kith and Kin: The Folk Art Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago,” Antiques and The Arts Weekly, August 3, 2012, 1, 30–1 (ill.).
Judith A. Barter and Monica Obniski, For Kith and Kin: The Folk Art Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago, (Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press, 2012) no. 31.

With Diana and Gary Stradling, New York, NY, c. 1960 to 2006; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2006.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.