Exceptional Stoneware Cigar-Smoking Face Jug, probably Brown Family, Atlanta
Fall 2024 Stoneware Auction
Lot #: 96
Estimate: $1,500-$2,500.A Note About Estimates
Minimum Bid: $350.
Exceptional Albany-Slip-Glazed Stoneware Face Jug of a Man Smoking a Cigar, probably Brown Family, Atlanta, GA, early 20th century, ovoid jug with pinched sides and applied facial features including disk-shaped eyes set within elliptical eyelids, arched eyebrows, small ears, distinctive nose with pinched tip and carved nostrils, large smiling mouth with applied cigar, and pointed chin. Surface covered in a dark-brown, Albany-slip-type glaze. Carved-away accents to slip on eyes and carving to tip of cigar to produce the appearance that it is burning. Sharing some characteristics of the Brown family's' Arden work and pieces made by the itinerant family member, Otto Brown (1899-1980), this jug has other atypical features, such as an applied chin; small, crude ears; squat body style; and an unusual mouth. Such differences indicate this piece was likely made by a member of the Brown family in Atlanta, GA, prior to the establishment of its long-standing Arden, NC operation in 1924. The depiction of the figure smoking a cigar is extremely rare. While Otto Brown is Brown family potter known to have produced cigar-smoking face jugs in the second and third quarter of the 20th century, this example differs markedly from his work. Only two smoking face vessels are known to us that were made prior to the "modern era" of face jug production: this jug and an important harvest jug made by Texas potter, James Prothro, circa 1850. Provenance: Crocker Farm, Inc., July 21, 2018, lot 35. Old reattachment of one eyebrow. Chips to ears. A small spout chip. Cigar unbroken, but reglued into mouth. A tiny chip to right edge of mouth. H 7 1/2" ; Diam. (at base) 5".
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