Memory Vessel with Encased Photograph

Copied Unidentified (American), Memory Vessel with Encased Photograph, after 1933, mixed media on ceramic, 10 1⁄4 x 7 1⁄4 in. (26.0 x 18.4 cm) diam., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, 1986.65.308
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Artwork Details

Title
Memory Vessel with Encased Photograph
Artist
Unidentified (American)
Date
after 1933
Location
Dimensions
10 1⁄4 x 7 1⁄4 in. (26.0 x 18.4 cm) diam.
Credit Line
Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson
Mediums
Mediums Description
mixed media on ceramic
Classifications
Subjects
  • Allegory — other — memory
  • Figure group
Object Number
1986.65.308
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1986.65.308

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.