Brunk Auctions
Live Auction

American & Southern | December 5, 2024

Thu, Dec 5, 2024 10:00AM EST
Lot 1122

Rare and Important Lanier Meaders Devil Jack-O-Lantern Face Jug

Estimate: $5,000 - $10,000

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $25
$100 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,000 $200
$3,000 $250
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$20,000 $2,000
$50,000 $5,000
$100,000 $10,000

(Mossy Creek, White County, Georgia, 1917-1998) 1971, jug form, runny olive green alkaline ash glaze, kaolin runs down from eye sockets to protruding lips around mouth, inset rock teeth, applied downturned horns, large applied ears with holes through eardrum, circular hole in back, straight spout, applied strap handle, inscribed "Lanier Meaders" on base, 9-3/4 in. 

Provenance: From the Folklife Collection of Southern Pottery Scholar, Author and Professor of English at Georgia State University, Dr. John Burrison, Atlanta, Georgia

Note: In the catalog description from Shaping Traditions: Folk Arts in a Changing South, John Burrison, University of Georgia Press, 2000, pg. 127, cat. no. 264, Burrison writes, "Lanier only made a few of these special jack-o-lanterns, with white clay melted form the eye sockets. He explained the devil inspiration this way: 'That's the way I was feeling that day!'"

Exhibited: Previously on Loan at the Atlanta History Center for viewing in the exhibition Shaping Traditions: Folk Arts in the Changing South from 1996 to 2024

Illustrated: Brothers in Clay: The Story of Georgia Folk Pottery, John Burrison, University of Georgia Press, 1983, color plate 11, and pg. 272, and Ceramics in America, 2006, edited by Rob Hunter, Fluid Vessel: Journey of the Jug, John Burrison, pg. 115, figure 41

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From the Folklife Collection of Southern Pottery Scholar, Author and Professor of English at Georgia State University, Dr. John Burrison, Atlanta, Georgia

glaze voids and anomalies as made, great condition