Dark and Craggy Antique Stoneware/Redware Memory Jug, Sealed Forever LAVATER but a few light creases

but a few light creases

I'm not quite sure if the bird was inlaid or just incised very finely and then painted/stained a slightly stronger red--but of it feels now like this happy surprise

one part Arts and Crafts

painting red crosses on three sides and stringing wire through punched holes in the bottom such that it could be mounted somewhere

and what's more fun than optical illusions

Dark and Craggy Antique Stoneware/Redware Memory Jug, Sealed Forever LAVATER but a few light creasesI like the idea of memory jugs but it's not very often I come across one that really love as a thing. This dark and densely packed and super visceral one won me right away though, including for the fact of it having been sealed up tight long ago, and feeling as if holding all sorts of histories and mysteries (and what sounds like sand or maybe even ashes inside.) It appears to me that over time it has seen additions in response to losses; included on