Face jug - NC Made by Ben Watford of New Bern, NC Start Price USD 300.00 Current Price USD 300.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Monday, October 06, 2008 End Time Monday, October 13, 2008 Location New Bern, NC See more about 'Face jug - NC Made by Ben Watford of New Bern, NC' Description This face jug suggested by an e-bay customer represents a biblical theme. It is entitled, “Good and evil.” On one side Eve holds an apple and on the other Adam holds a snake. Eve has long eye lashes, red lip stick, blue eyes and painted finger nails. Adam has a big mouth and all seeing red eyes indicating that he has tasted the grape. This is a very special face jug. This face jug is 13 inches tall to the top of the cork. Face jugs designed by Ben Watford of New Bern, North Carolina are masterpieces of Carolina pottery. Native to the Carolinas, the "Face Jug" is the most unique piece of southern pottery. The history of Southern Face Jugs starts with slave potters in the Edgefield region of SC before the Civil War. Face jugs have been made in NC since the early 1800s. Slaves were not allowed to have tombstones, so face jugs served as their grave markers. The story handed down from generation to generation by word of mouth, was that slaves placed personal items on their loved ones' graves along with face jugs. The ugly face on the jug evolved something like this: Slaves from Africa revered their ancestors and participated in ancestor honoring, or what we might call ancestor worship. African slaves were taken to the Caribbean to be acclimated and there they picked up the religion of voodoo. Eventually ancestor worship, voodoo, and Christianity amalgamated into the tradition of the face jug. Many slaves who came to this country converted to Christianity and acquired a belief in the devil. They combined all their beliefs and came up with the ugly face jug. Apparently it had to be ugly enough to scare the devil away from your grave so your soul could go to heaven. Some slaves put a cigar in the mouths of some face jugs. Slaves were not allowed to smoke so this signifies defiance, the man who does not consider himself a "boy," and of course delivers, symbolically, a strong epithet to the slaveholder. Ben Watford, New Bern, North Carolina - Potter Place a Bid!