The Mysterious Face Jug
a slave-made face jug, circa 1860'sI think I've heard potters from at least 20 states claiming the face jug first appeared in their state. I live and make pots in what was called the Old Edgefield District of South Carolina. What is known as fact is that face jugs were made at the Col. Thomas Davies Factory near Bath, SC, at the Miles Mill stoneware factory and the B.F. Landrum Factory at Sunnybrooke near Vaucluse, SC in present day Aiken County. Most of these early Edgefield District stoneware factories used slaves in the production of wares. The last slaves to enter the United States came on the ship Wanderer to Savannah, GA in 1858. These slaves were then sent up the Savannah River to the planters around Augusta, GA, Aiken and Edgefield. These slaves were from the Congo River area in West Africa and most likely played an important role in the evolution of the face jug.
It is believed that the slaves at some of the SC stoneware factories were allowed to make objects of their choosing on their time off, but I have seen no records of this. I do believe the slaves were the makers of these early crude face jugs. Ceramic historians debate whether the slaves were duplicating in clay symbolic icons of their African culture or whether they may have seen the popular Toby-mugs of that period which were made at Bennington Vermont. Affluent plantation masters were probably in possession of these Toby mugs since they were the latest rage. Also, and most importantly, the owners of the United States Pottery Company in Bennington, VT folded and moved to South Carolina to start a new porcelain works in 1857. This concern was called the Southern Porcelain Company and was located in Kaolin, SC (near Bath, SC).
At about the same time Southern Porcelain was in operation (late1850's), Col. Thomas Davies set up his factory, Palmetto Fire Brick Company next door making refractory fire brick and, later, ceramic items for use in Confederate hospitals. Slaves working for him may have been exposed to the Toby or face-style mugs and pitchers. I've done extensive research at the Southern Porcelain site and have found other spooky-looking satyrs on the porcelain molded pieces which were made there. The slaves who worked in these potteries at various tasks, were considered more valuable than average slaves and were often "rented" out to neighboring potteries to settle debts or to generate additional income for their master. Numerous records in existence show this to be fact.
The Edgefield area and present day Aiken County had around 25 or so of these early stoneware factories operating from 1810 until about 1930. They produced millions of utilitarian items such as jugs, churns, jars, etc. This area was a proving ground. Many potters, black and white, learned their skills here and later migrated on to all of the southern states and as far west as Texas and even to Ohio. Most likely they carried the notion of the face jug with them. The most famous of these potters was the enslaved African potter known as "Dave the Slave" or Dave Drake. Several fragments of face jugs were found at the long lost site called Stoney Bluff in Aiken County where Dave worked for many years. It is not known whether he might have made any face jugs. Ceramic historians seem to agree that the crude face jug, as we now know it, most likely came from these early SC factories.
Face jugs/pitchers/mugs have been made prior to the Edgefield face jugs. Even in ancient Egypt. Most of them are highly modeled and finished. It appears the Edgefield-style of crude face jugs, which is the subject of this piece, appeared about the same time (late 1850's) as the slaves from the Wanderer slave ship. The slaves were transported up the Savannah River to the Augusta, GA/ Edgefield, SC area from the Congo River in Western Africa. Some of these Wanderer slaves, i.e. "Romeo", Ward Lee and Tucker Henderson (pictured here after freedom) lived their lives out around the Miles Mill and the BF Landrum potteries near Eureka and Vaucluse, SC (present Aiken County) where these face jugs were found (from census records).
These 3 slaves, as well as the other Wanderer slaves achieved somewhat of a celebrity status throughout the country. The Wanderer's owner, Charles Lamar, had secretly smuggled these Congo-born African Americans into this country and violated the laws against slave importation which had been in effect for many years, making them some of the last captured humans pressed into slavery in the USA. This triggered a congessional investigation and preceeding trial of the owner and captain of the ship. The trial, held in South Carolina ended in aquittal and was a mockery of justice carried forth by those who's interests were served by perpetuation of slavery.
The other pottery where face jugs were found was at the Col. Thomas Davies' Palmetto Firebrick Factory near Kaolin, SC. Some 137 of the Wanderer slaves disembarked from the steamboat Augusta near the Davies Factory on the SC side of the Savannah River. Charles Lamar, who owned the slave ship Wanderer, owned lands around Davies' pottery and also had interests in the Southern Porcelain Company at Kaolin, SC.
Upon examination, the crude Edgefield face jugs share many similarities with the reliquary objects from the area around western equatorial Africa where the Wanderer slaves came from. These ceremonial wood carvings often had repeated applications of kaolin applied to the eyes
and teeth, much as kaolin was added to the face jugs for eyes and teeth in the Edgefield area potteries. (Kaolin is a white china clay which is mined in South Carolina and Georgia on a large scale) Almost every decision and event, from crop planting to war, in that African culture involved the consultation of ancesteral spirits through these carved faces and masks in ceremonies and rituals. Fragments of ancestral skulls, teeth and bone were stored in lidded bark baskets. The carved wooden heads and statues, called "byeri", were mounted on top of these sacred bone holding baskets.
It is easy to see that the Wanderer slaves who settled in and worked the potteries of the Edgefield area would have been culturaly devastated without the single most important cultural item which they had to leave behind in Africa. Without concrete evidence, we can only visually compare these two different mediums for similarities, while realizing this crude style of face jug was not made prior to the Wanderer slaves arrival. Face jugs did spread across many parts of the USA after the 1860's, as potters migrated from the proving grounds of the Edgefield potteries. Take time to look at these byeri. The location and placement of facial features is remarkably similar to the Edgefield face jugs now in collections.
These 3 photos are carved-wood byeri from the Congo area, Central West Africa, circa 18oo’s
Following are several face jugs which are attributed to the BF Landrum, Miles Mill and Col. Thomas Davies pottery and are suspected to be slave-made.
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