Art Institute of Chicago

Face Flask

Artist unknown (American, 19th century)

Date

1820–35

Medium

Stoneware and salt glaze with iron and cobalt oxide glazes

Culture

New England

Department

Arts of the Americas

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

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, missionary, and explorer Samuel Parker (1779–1866), who was known for creating the earliest reliable map of the Oregon Territory in 1838. Parker also advised the US Government on locations for the Transcontinental Railroad.

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