Face Jug

Grace Nell Hewell

2005

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Large multi-part object of blown glass mounted on a steel stand and composed of a large and heavy hollow vessel shaped almost like a pouch, suspended by the neck from a spear, the vessel of blue-gray color with faux craquelure and images of horses in the manner of ancient Lascaux cave paintings, the upper edge a band of beige-gold, next to the vessel hangs a steel hook from which dangles a blown glass object that resembles a bone or ancient artifact, mottled gray in color with a bulbous end in shades of red.
"This all-white pitcher is enlived on both sides with relief-molded references to Bacchus. The wine god is portrayed in the guise of a nude child seated amid grape vines and displaying his attributes of a staff and a goblet of wine. These motifs suggest that the pitcher was intended for the dispensing of alcoholic beverages. The assymetrical compostiion of the design and the profusion of ornament – a scrolled medallion embellishing the front and leafage in relief decorating the foot and handle – derive directly from the vocabulary of the Rococo-revival style then at the height of its reign in America." From Frelinghuysen, Alice Cooney. American Porcelain, 1770 - 1920. Exh. cat. New York, NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989: no. 26, 119.
Tall, glass champagne flute with spirally-fluted, conical bowl, in a shade of deep purple that fades to clear at the bottom of the bowl, the clear glass stem is textured, the round foot also of clear glass.