A ceramic jug found in Germantown, PA turns out to be an example of a significant 19th century protective relic and piece of art — a face jug — created by African American slaves and freedmen ...

This distinctive type of ceramic face vessel first appeared in the American South in the mid-1800s. Jugs such as these are attributed to a small number of black slaves working as potters in the ...

The jug itself is of black-glazed pottery and although an everyday item it still shows a careful degree of attention with a small sculpted head of a god on the handle and the decorative striping ...

Yet the pieces are more commonly associated with the British Dartmouth Pottery, which first gave the jug its fish-shaped design. A special pair of gurgling jugs was crafted in 1958 for ...

A ceramic jug found in Germantown, PA turns out to be an example of a significant 19th century protective relic and piece of art — a face jug — created by African American slaves and freedmen ...