Face Vessel
date: label: date made
content: late 1800s-early 1900s
label: Date made
content: Late 19th and early 20th centuries
name: label: maker
content: unknown
notes: label: Description
content: The tradition of shaping human likenesses on ceramic vessels is thousands of years old. Face vessels held different meanings in different cultures around the world. Some were probably used in burial rituals, others satirized the person whose features were captured in clay, and still others were made just for fun.
label: Description
content: Southern potters rarely signed their face vessels before the 1920s, making attribution difficult. The maker of this face vessel, second from the left, is not known. It came to the Museum as part of the Van Alstyne Collection of American Folk Art. Eleanor and Mabel Van Alstyne collected more than 300 examples of American folk art over a period of about 40 years.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States
label: Associated Place
content: United States
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Ceramics and Glass
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content: Face Vessels
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content: Cultures & Communities
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content: Domestic Furnishings
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Eleanor and Mabel Van Alstyne American Folk Art Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: CE.65.1070
label: accession number
content: 256396
label: catalog number
content: 65.1070
objectType: label: Object Name
content: vessel, face
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: ceramic, stoneware (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: corncob (stopper material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (base material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 11 cm x 14.7 cm; 4 5/16 in x 5 13/16 in