Featured Could someone please give me guidance as to this pottery

Hello
I have this what i believe is african pottery, but am not sure. Could someone please give me some idea of the period or where this jug came from?

thank you for any info

 

Welcome. @i need help Perhaps this should go in pottery?

 

Hi Jxp............

Welcome to Antiquers...............

Wish I could help.........hang on for more visits.

 

Welcome @jxp1962,

Can you please go back and "edit" your post and select "full size" for your photos. It will make it easier for us to see them.

Can you tell us what you know about your pot - where did you get it, what you may have been told about it, why you think it might be African?

 

My wife was given the jug years ago and was told by her friend not to lose it as it was supposed to be somewhat valuable. She thought it was african pottery but not sure.
I am not sure as to its origins or how old or even where it is from.
Thanks for any info

 

Can't help with your pottery, but WELCOME to ANTIQUERS @jxp1962!!!

 

All I know is that it is a coiled pottery. A length of pottery is coiled around and around to make the vessel. Here's the wiki article which states that coil pottery is found in Africa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coiling_(pottery)

 

Coiled pottery was done EVERYWHERE.

Based on my years as a pottery student, this looks like a high-fired stoneware body with a lot of grog. Grog is ground-up fired clay, which acts as a tempering agent, making the clay easier for the inexperienced worker to have better results, and better for sculptural - not functional - pieces. It's the lighter freckles/spots/tiny lumps I can see on the loops and in the interior, kind of looking like sawdust. I think this is student work, with some creativity going on in the shape. Probably no earlier than the 1960s.

An African potter would be ashamed to leave her coils unsmoothed and undecorated, and I don't see the form following any function, which is something my instructor always spoke of in considering traditional pottery - most shapes had a reason to be there. Further, African potters typically use terracotta or earthenware clay, much redder than the tan color of this piece, and which fires at a lower temperature.

You can try a scratch test, if you have some scrap window/picture frame glass around, and you're not worried about the possibility of scuffing the piece a little - stoneware will typically scratch glass, but earthenware won't.

 

"stoneware will typically scratch glass, but earthenware won't" I didn't know that, but it's a good test for determining stoneware vs earthenware.

I'm not a potter, but I did know that coil pottery is done everywhere, and pointed out Africa since OP wondered if their piece was African.