Great & Noble Jar: Traditional Stoneware of South Carolina - Brossura

Baldwin, Cinda K.

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0820346160 ISBN 13: 9780820346168

Casa editrice: Univ of Georgia Pr, 2014

Riassunto

In Great and Noble Jar, Cinda K. Baldwin offers the first authoritative study of South Carolina stoneware and traces the ways in which a rich regional tradition emerged from a unique cultural source.

As Baldwin notes, South Carolina's old legislative district of Edgefield (an area now comprising Edgefield, Aiken, and Greenwood counties) has long been recognized as the place of origin for an alkaline-glazing process that came to characterize pottery produced throughout the lower South. The process developed during the early nineteenth century after the poisonous properties of lead-glazed stoneware became known. Abner Landrum, a newspaper editor and scientific farmer, was probably the first to combine locally available materials with Chinese glaze formulas to produce this new and safer alkaline-glazed stoneware.

The plantation operations of the Edgefield District, Baldwin shows, created a demand for large-scale food storage and preservation, often in containers of huge capacity. In response to this need, an extensive system of family-owned stoneware factories emerged. Reflecting the contributions of the many slaves and freed blacks who worked in the industry, the objects produced in these factories often incorporated African designs and techniques. Particularly notable were the "grotesques," or "voodoo jugs"—wheel-thrown vessels onto which the slave potters applied facial features in molded clay. Baldwin pays special attention to the remarkable work of a slave potter named Dave, who marked his wares with brief verse inscriptions, including this one found on a large food-storage container: "Great & Noble Jar, /hold sheep, goat, and bear."

Tracing the tradition's history through the post-Civil War period and the first half of the twentieth century, Baldwin also examines South Carolina pottery outside the Edgefield District and analyzes a variety of decorative treatments and forms. She concludes with a consideration of the decline and renewal of the southern folk pottery tradition.

The book is illustrated with nearly two hundred photographs (including fifteen color plates), maps, and drawings. Complementing earlier studies that focused on Georgia and North Carolina pottery, Great and Noble Jar is a significant contribution to the understanding of this heritage.

Su questo libro

L'autore:

CINDA K. BALDWIN has worked as registrar at McKissick Museum, the University of South Carolina. Her research for this project was supported by McKissick Museum and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The publication of this volume was supported in part by McKissick Museum.

Product Description:

Originally published in 1993, Great and Noble Jar was the first authoritative study of South Carolina stoneware - from its beginnings in colonial times and its heyday in the 1850s through the post-Civil War period and the first half of the twentieth century. Folklorist Cinda K. Baldwin examines not only many traditional pottery forms but also the methods by which they were thrown, glazed, decorated, and fired.Among the topics on which Baldwin focuses are the contributions of slaves and freed blacks to the pottery industry, including the remarkable work of the potter named Dave, who marked his wares with brief verse inscriptions, including this one found on a large food-storage container: "Great & Noble Jar, / hold sheep, goat, and bear."The book is illustrated with nearly two hundred photographs (including fifteen colour plates), maps, and drawings and includes an index of South Carolina potters.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Univ of Georgia Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0820346160
• ISBN 13: 9780820346168
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 234