Originally from Louisiana, Milligan Frazier made pottery on demand in Mims Chapel, Texas, in addition to working as a farmhand. Wares attributed to Frazier have a dark, streaky glaze, the result of a mixture that included ground glass and sand. Frazier was enslaved by iron furnace and pottery owner Jefferson S. Nash for a short period of time near the end of the Civil War and may have continued to work for Nash after emancipation. It is not known how long Nash’s pottery was in operation or if Frazier made pottery for him; he may have worked at Nash’s iron foundry and furnace, or in some other capacity. 

This large jar provides ample space to display the dramatic glaze patterns characteristic of Frazier’s work. The rim of this jar became deformed sometime after it came off the potter’s wheel. The use of incised slash marks such as those on the shoulder of this jar was widespread, but their purpose or meaning is not well understood.