Unique and Important Alkaline-Glazed Stoneware Double Face Devil Face, Inscribed "JOHN'S / LAST POT," Signed "JOHN MEADERS / #16 / 1/2," Cleveland, GA origin, 1998, ovoid jug with two open strap handles, decorated on the front and reverse with a hand-modeled and applied devil's face featuring horns, pointed ears, hooked nose, smiling mouth with kaolin teeth, and kaolin eyes with vertical cobalt pupils. Base incised "John's Last Pot." Underside incised with John Meaders signature and his numerical code dating it to 1998. Surface covered in a mottled olive-green alkaline glaze. Relatively few John Meaders face jugs are known. According to Meaders's wife, Mildred Meaders, John Meaders only produced seventy-three single face jugs and thirty-one single face devil jugs. Of extreme rarity are his double face devil jugs, which, Mildred stated, he only produced eighteen examples of. Two of these were stolen from Mildred and their whereabouts are unknown, while a number of others from this group are owned by family members, making those that have been available for sale extremely low. This example ranks among John Meaders's greatest works known, its significance created from its extraordinary form and the inscription at the base identifying it as the last vessel this dynastic Southern potter ever made. Provenance: Carl and Marian Mullis Collection; purchased from William P. House, June 9, 2010. Excellent, essentially as-made condition. H 10".
