Face Flask
1820–35
Medium
Stoneware and salt glaze with iron and cobalt oxide glazes
Dimensions
12.1 × 8.9 × 12.7 cm (4 3/4 × 15 × 5 in.)
Classification
flask (bottle)
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
192281
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
By the early 1800s various groups of potters in the eastern United States were making ceramic vessels representing the human face. In this instance, the potter rendered the features through a combination modeling the eyes, nose, mouth, and one ear in three dimensions; incising the hair and other ear into the clay; and using contrasting glazes for the eyes, eyebrows, and mouth. Meant to hold shot or powder, the flask originally had a stopper. It was once owned by the Congregational minister, miss...