Unknown American
Toby Barrel Flask or Bottle

Public Domain

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Maker Unknown American

CultureAmerican

Titles

Toby Barrel Flask or Bottle

Datec. 1840–1850

Made inUnited States

MediumLead-glazed earthenware (Rockingham ware)

Dimensions9 1/8 × 4 1/8 × 3 in. (23.2 × 10.5 × 7.6 cm)

Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg

Object numberB.57.30

Not on view

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Department

Bayou Bend

Object Type

CERAMICS

DescriptionThis flask is an example of “Rockingham” ware, which was produced in both England and the United States in the 1800s. The man-atop-barrel motif originates from English Toby mugs, and the figural nature of this flask is also related to English portrait flasks. A nearly identical flask is impressed with “J. Smith, Mormon Prophet,” referencing the founder of Mormonism, a uniquely American religion. Therefore, the geographic origins of this flask remain inconclusive. Flasks of this type were commonly designed as commemorative collectables to encourage the sale of their contents, usually gin. This flask’s inscription, “Jem Crow,” suggests that this flask was made to commemorate Thomas D. Rice’s performance as his character Jim Crow in either 1828 in Lexington, Kentucky, or in 1836 in London. In London, Jim Crow became a symbol of inversion used in political satire. Rice’s performance, dependent on bodily humor and the derogatory impersonation of a black man, fueled degrading representations of black persons in both England and the United States. This object tells the fraught stories of transatlantic ceramic exchange and transatlantic racist minstrel performance.
Provenance[George S. McKearin, Hoosick Falls, New York]; [George Abraham and Gilbert May Antiques, West Granville, Massachusetts]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, 1957; given to MFAH.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

[no inscriptions]

[no marks]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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