Folk Art Pottery Face Jugs

Pottery face jugs are storage jugs that have been designed as a normal jug might be with the exception that the side has been decorated with a distorted face. These faces may appear humorous or they may look more sinister and scary. They first started appearing in the US around the 1700s, predominantly in the southern states of South Carolina and Georgia.

There are a few stories about the origins of face jugs and what the ugly face on the side of the jug is meant to signify. They were originally thought to have been used as grave markers by slaves to ward off evil spirits.

Later, the use of these face jugs were used to store moonshine with the scary faces used as a kind of childproofing. The thinking was that the scary face would keep children from investigating the contents and there is probably something to this theory with some of the very old pottery face lamps look fearsome.

There is also a theory, particularly with the face jugs that held moonshine liquor, that the face represented on the side of the jug was a depiction of how your face would look after you drank too much of the contents.

As mentioned, face jugs have been made for hundreds of years and this means it is possible to track down antique pottery face jugs. Every now and then they come up for sale at auction sites. It is important to ensure that a jug that is purported to be made during a certain period is authenticated before you buy it. As with all types of pottery there are different ways in which the markings can be checked.

Below is a selection of vintage and antique pottery face jugs for sale that may provide you with a valuable addition to your ceramic collection.

If you want to buy a pottery face jug you don’t have to pay a lot of money, nor do you have to buy a vintage face jug. Many skilled potters produce a fine selection of unique face jugs of all different types and sizes as a sideline to their normal production. These jugs are available at extremely reasonable prices with some of them fine pieces that are intricately decorated and holding tremendous appeal.

Take a look at the selection of more recently made pottery face jugs for sale. These face jugs represent some of the fine pottery that is still being produced today by craftsmen with a great deal of talent and imagination.

As you can imagine, the creation of face jugs allows the potter the chance to exercise their imagination in numerous different ways. The facial features can be distorted in any way they desire with unusually twisted mouths, pop-eyes, squints and other contortions used to make every one unique.

These days the folk art pottery face jugs are a collector’s prize with the jugs able to be used around the home in a variety of ways apart from the purely decorative. They can be used for storing all kinds of liquids, after all, they were originally designed for the storage of moonshine liquor. Placing a grotesque stoneware pottery face jug on the table at a gathering as the water jug would cause a tremendous stir and certainly be a conversation starter.