Rare and Fine Alkaline-Glazed Stoneware Face Jug with China Plate Teeth, Signed "Lanier Meaders," Cleveland, GA origin, circa early 1970s, ovoid jug with narrow, semi-rounded spout, decorated with a hand-modeled and applied clay face including round kaolin eyes with black-slip pupils set within curved lids, a rounded nose, protruding ears with pinched surfaces, and open mouth with applied china-plate teeth. The front and sides of the jug include depressed areas loosely mimicking the form of a human face, an early treatment in Meaders's work. Surface covered in a mottled olive-colored alkaline with high gloss. Underside incised with Lanier Meaders signature. Meaders's face jugs produced with china plate teeth are among his rarest and most desirable examples of this form. Only the second such piece that we have offered, the other having sold in our Summer 2021 auction, lot 383. Literature: For a related jug, see Crocker and Crouch, Jr., The Folk Pottery of Cheever, Arie, and Lanier Meaders: A Pictorial Legacy, front cover. Provenance: Slotin Auction, Buford, GA, May 1, 2010, lot 22; Frank W. White Collection. Excellent, essentially as-made condition with some typical in-the-firing fissures to forehead/eyelid area. H 9 3/4".
