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Figure 1993.900.2
Bust of a Man
Figure 1993.900.2

Bust of a Man

Dateca. 1910
Artist/Maker Will Boggs (1871 - 1949)
OriginAmerica, Alabama, Randolph County, Rock Mills
MediumSalt-glazed stoneware
Dimensions10 3/4" x 7 3/8" x 7 1/4"
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1993.900.2
DescriptionMolded head of a man having close set eyes, aquiline nose, large ears, and a thick neck; mounted on a turned, shouldered base.
Label TextWill Boggs sculpted this head from a length of stoneware sewer pipe, likely representing a person he knew. During the late-19th and early-20th centuries, sewer pipe makers were known to create sculptural pieces from unfinished stoneware pipes.

This head was used as a lawn ornament by a local family in Rock Mills, Alabama. Previously, it may have been used as a doorstop in William David Pounds’ potting shop, where Will Boggs was employed as a sewer pipe maker.

The object was sculpted from a length of stoneware sewer pipe. Boggs’s father was a potter in Georgia and may have passed the technique on to his son. Will Boggs was employed in Alabama as a potter by William David Pounds. Denny Pounds, William's grandson, remembers that a stoneware head was used as a doorstop in the potting shop.
ProvenanceMrs. Lavada Yates, Rock Mills, Alabama, used 93.900.2 as a yard ornament. Mrs. Yates, a member of the Yates family of potters in Randolph County, remembered "Head of a Man" as having been made by Boggs and being given by the potter to her family. Mrs. Yates was the source of the attribution. Letter from James E. Allen in "Correspondence" file.
Exhibition(s)