Bobby Ferguson Folk Art Stoneware Face Jug

Item Details

A handcrafted and wood fired face jug by Gillsville, Georgia potter Bobby Ferguson. This jug has a round top handle, a spout in the back, and is shaped like a wide-eyed man with incised facial hair. It was made with a locally mined clay found near Gillsville, and wood fired with a deep, rich mottled cobalt blue gloss glaze. It is marked to the underside ‘Bobby Ferguson, Gillsville, Ga., Oct. 01’.

Gillsville is renowned for its local clay and the generations of family potters working there near the Chattahoochee National Forest in the north Georgia Mountains. This type of face jug was originally made to store liquor or poisonous materials, intended to ‘scare the children away.’ The famous Meaders family of face jug makers also reside in Gillsville, near the Hewell family of folk potters.

Dimensions

Item #

17ATL088-068