CC0 · no rights reserved
Five-Gallon Home Brew Jar
From the collection of Smithsonian American Art Museum. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Until the mid-twentieth century, people used large stoneware pots to store homemade butter, syrups, fruit, and meat. They also fermented and stored alcohol in heavy bell jars that kept the brew airtight and cool. Craftsmen used local clays and handmade glazes to create these pots and rarely applied any decoration. The glazes were made from sand, clay, lime, or wood ash, and often ran down the clay during firing to create a “tobacco spit” effect.
Smithsonian American Art Museum’s own descriptionSubjects
Credit lineFive-Gallon Home Brew Jar. ca. 1880. Unidentified. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson. CC0.
