Face Jug

Date1977

Artist/Maker Evan Javan Brown Jr. (possibly) (b. 1923)

Artist/Maker Evan Javan Brown Sr. (possibly) (1897 - 1980)

OriginAmerica, North Carolina, Arden

MediumStoneware, salt-glazed, brown with white and Albany slip

DimensionsH: 10 1/4" x 8" x 8" (26.0 cm x 20.3 cm x 20.3 cm.) diam. of base: 5 1/2" (14.0 cm.)

Credit LineGift of Edward A. Chappell

Object number1991.900.6

DescriptionVery dark brown jug with strap handle and facial features. Horns are on either side of the jug neck. "Lug-type" ears applied vertically. Bulging eyes, flattened nose, open mouth with large lips revealing white, irregularly-shaped teeth. A moustache tilts upward to either side on the upper lip. Eyebrows are merely slightly roughened areas of the clay body.
Label TextAlmost every one in the Brown family was involved in the stoneware industry in some way during the twentieth century. Moving back and forth between Georgia and North Carolina, this family is known for making both utilitarian vessels and numerous fanciful face jugs. With its rakish moustache, dark slip, and white teeth this piece is a wonderful example of the devil face jug form.
--Inspiration and Ingenuity: American Stoneware
Exhibition curated by Suzanne Findlen Hood
At the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum
February 2007

MarkingsStamped into the bottom of the jug in block letters is "E. J. BROWN" and, in another area of the bottom, are stamped "Evan's" [in italic stamp] and "ARDEN, N.C." [in block lettered stamp differing from the first].

Exhibition(s)