Memory Vessel with Commemorative Objects

Copied Unidentified (American), Memory Vessel with Commemorative Objects, after 1928, mixed media on ceramic, 9 129 38 in. (24.123.8 cm. ) irregular, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, 1986.65.309
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Artwork Details

Title
Memory Vessel with Commemorative Objects
Artist
Unidentified (American)
Date
after 1928
Dimensions
9 129 38 in. (24.123.8 cm. ) irregular
Credit Line
Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson
Mediums Description
mixed media on ceramic
Classifications
Keywords
  • Allegory — other — memory
Object Number
1986.65.309

Artwork Description

Some memory jars may have come from African American traditions of decorating graves with objects owned by the deceased. The objects embedded in the surface of these bottles and jars provide clues about when they were made or who made them. For example, Jug with Finial includes a campaign button for William Jennings Bryan, a Democratic presidential candidate between 1896 and 1908, while High-Buttoned Shoe shows a macabre row of teeth that may have belonged to the maker.