A wonderful nineteenth-century Dave '
The Slave' Drake stoneware butter churn made in South Carolina in 1859 sold a few months ago at Crocker Farm in Sparks, Maryland, which definitely garnered some serious interest. I wrote a
report about the object that I posted on February 19th. The churn achieved a respected price of more than eight-thousand-dollars on March 14th.
For a brief recap, from that report, "
The history of Dave Drake is compelling: he was born into slavery in 1800 in the Edgefield District of South Carolina. He is thought to have been born to the plantation owner, Harry Drake, a religious man, who may have taught some of his slaves to read and write to help with their religious studies. There is also some evidence that suggests Dave may have lost a leg in an accident in his younger years, but I do not have evidence to prove this other than reading about it.
Dave reportedly learned the potter's trade at a young age from white men of European descent employed where he lived as a slave in South Carolina. His pots were sometimes decorated with his name, the date of manufacture - and, a poem. His original poems were usually related to the vessel's use, religion or a family member. Examples of Dave's unsigned work are sometimes attributed to him today by either the "Lm" mark (business where he was employed) or two incised slashes sometimes placed carefully unobtrusively on the pot
I would describe Dave as a master potter occasionally throwing by hand huge vessels intended to hold gallons of material not regularly seen elsewhere in America in the nineteenth-century. The skill and raw strength it took to throw some of these forms is remarkable. Dave can even be considered today as the kind of person who's life manifested into folk lore and legend. In a historical context, Dave was an educated enslaved potter, who could read and write - all-while being an artist and a poet in a tumultuous period laying witness to America's Civil War (1861-1865). In theory, I can only imagine that some of Dave's work must have been destroyed during the war. Dave Drake is an overly important potter today who's work helps define an important period in American history."
In July, Crocker Farm will offer another significant example of South Carolina-made stoneware to the highest bidder; a small stoneware face jug has been consigned from a home in the northeast. The jug, also, has ties to the state's enslaved African Americans in the 1800's. These kind of jugs have been lent a few suggested uses by historians, which I will discuss; however, I don't believe any of these jugs have ever been attributed to Dave before.
When I visited the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. a year-and-a-half ago, I was overly impressed with the museum's collection of face jugs. It was incredible to see such a marvelous collection that combined makers from all over the American south, which included potters in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia from the nineteenth and twentieth-centuries. Personally, I believe the jugs made in South Carolina are the most significant today because of what they represent and the southern slavery movement that they developed from.
Cape Cod, Massachusetts collector, dealer - and, writer, Brian Cullity has shared stories with me of related jugs that he has discovered in New England through the span of his career. He even recalls a South Carolina face jug that appeared at a Hap Moore Auction in York, Maine a few decades ago. The jug reportedly emerged from a local home. I can only imagine what it must have been like picking for such objects in the 1970's and the 1980's. Prices have drastically changed for these sorts of objects, too; Skinner, Inc. (Boston and Marlborough, Massachusetts) recently sold an Aiken County, South Carolina face jug in 2012 that possessed a modest estimate of $800 to $1,200; however, bidders thought otherwise, when the jug achieved more than $56,000.
According to Skinner, "The jug descended through a Connecticut antiquarian, who collected antiques in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-centuries. The base of the jug was signed 'Aiken, S.C.' A late-nineteenth or early-twentieth-century hand-written note was found inside of the jug that was inscribed, 'Monkey Jug = made in Bath, S.C. 1862 by negro slaves/Aiken, S.C.'" Although, it should be noted that the 'Monkey Jug' use is merely a suggestion by this antiquarian - I will explain 'why' I suggest this shortly.
The director of the American Furniture and Decorative Arts Department at Skinner in Boston, Stephen F. Fletcher, wrote in a 2012 article, "I asked the consignor about her great-grandfather who had collected the jug and written the note. We learned that he had most likely acquired it in the late 19th or early 20th century, just a few decades after the piece was made. The fact that he saw fit to acquire this unique example of an African-American face jug shows a developed aesthetic sensibility. The fact the jug survived all this while undamaged is miraculous."
Stephen L. Fletcher also wrote, "further research into the history of the jug led us to two articles from the 2006 edition of Ceramics in America. In an article written by John A. Burrison, titled, 'Fluid Vessel: Journey of the Jug,' it is proposed that face jugs like this one were likely influenced by anthropomorphic clay vessels made in West Africa , the chief source of the Atlantic slave trade."
19th Century Small Stoneware Face Jug Attributed to Bath (Aiken County), SC
Reportedly Made in 1862
Descended Though a CT Antiquarian Until the Jug Sold in 2012
Sold for $56,288 at Skinner in Boston in 2012
Stands 4 1/2" Tall
Photo Courtesy: Skinner, Inc. - Boston & Marlborough, MA
Another View of the Jug
Photo Courtesy: Skinner, Inc. - Boston & Marlborough, MA
Another View of the Jug
Photo Courtesy: Skinner, Inc. - Boston & Marlborough, MA
Fletcher continues, "a related article in the same issue, titled, 'Making Faces: Archaeological Evidence of African-American Face Jug Production' (Newell & Lenzo) discusses the origin and use of pottery face vessels called 'Monkey' jugs, after 'monkeyed,' a southern term for the dehydrating effect of the summer heat.
Small jugs have aroused curiosity as to their use (like both seen in this report), as they were so small that they would not hold much liquid to quench a thirsty person. This article also mentions a 1909 interview by early American historian, Edwin Atlee Barber with South Carolina plantation pottery owner, Colonel Thomas Davies, who commented that the small jugs were used by the slaves for 'their own purposes,' inferring a connection between the jugs and possible religious and ritual practices."
Also, according to Skinner, "Burrison's 2006 article suggests that the jugs made at Colonel Davies Fire Brick Works at Bath in West Central South Carolina are often distinguished by bulging eyes and bared teeth of kaolin inset into the stoneware clay body."
The jug that Crocker Farm offers in July demonstrates similar bulging eyes and teeth made from kaolin, which may reveal a connection between these two jugs by way of their production methods. It's difficult to prove, but I am curious to know if the jug that Crocker Farm will sell this summer is a Bath, South Carolina product. My idea is only mere speculation, but I felt it may make for a good discussion.
I can not say for sure, whether, there is a direct relationship found between the jug that sold at Skinner in 2012 - and, the jug that Crocker Farm will sell this summer; although, there are certainly some similarities recognized in the bulging eyes and the kaolin teeth. There is also definitely a strong relationship for each jug in a historical context. We will have to wait until this summer to witness whether or not this jug will realize a similar result as that, which sold in Boston in 2012.
Rare 19th Century Small Alkaline Glazed Stoneware Face Jug
Edgefield, South Carolina Origin
Circa 1860
Stands 5" Tall
Consigned from a Home in the Northeast
Photo Courtesy: Crocker Farm - Sparks, MD
Another View of the Face Jug
Photo Courtesy: Crocker Farm - Sparks, MD
Another View of the Face Jug
Photo Courtesy: Crocker Farm - Sparks, MD
View of One Ear
Photo Courtesy: Crocker Farm - Sparks, MD
View of the Other Ear
Photo Courtesy: Crocker Farm - Sparks, MD
View of the Handle
Photo Courtesy: Crocker Farm - Sparks, MD
View of the Interior
Photo Courtesy: Crocker Farm - Sparks, MD
View of the Base
Photo Courtesy: Crocker Farm - Sparks, MD
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
